Grade summary

Chemical giant DuPont produces 32 SIN List substances (including four persistent chemicals), with nine of these officially recognised as chemicals of high concern by the EU. The company has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products and includes intrinsic hazards of ingredients in its screening. It does not, however, have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances. The company follows several voluntary standards of good conduct, but has, nonetheless, been involved in numerous environmental violations over the last ten years, including the huge class action lawsuit that was brought against the company for releasing the persistent chemical PFOA into the environment over a period of several decades.

Opportunities for improvement

1. Accept responsibility for the company’s toxic legacy and transform DuPont de Nemours into a green and profitable company. Downplaying risks and neglecting responsibility for environmental pollution and threats to human health have been notorious strategies of DuPont. But those tactics don’t work any longer. The mounting liability costs and the plummeting stock price show a lack of trust among investors and local communities. Fine words in a sustainability report are not enough to turn things around for Dupont. A completely new strategy and chemical production approach are needed.
2. A sustainable circular economy needs products that can be safely recycled over and over again. This can only be achieved without hazardous ingredients. We therefore recommend that DuPont acknowledges its responsibility and publicly announces a phase-out strategy that would dramatically reduce both the volume and the number of hazardous chemicals that the company produces.
3. Only bring safer products – free from hazardous chemicals – to the market. The company’s innovation and product design departments should have this as a clear goal moving forward, and never stray from it.

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