NOT CURRENT YEAR
Linde
Grade Summary
Even if Linde is still among ChemScore’s top ten, the company has suffered the biggest point loss in this year’s ranking – six points, which means going from a C+ to a C and slipping from being ranked fourth to being ranked eight. This dramatic change is almost entirely due to Linde increasing its hazardous portfolio from three to four problematic chemicals, along with the fact that only half of the company’s production takes place within the EU or US. There is no available data for the 50 percent of the Linde’s production that takes place outside of these regions. This low transparency is a big issue for investors, as it makes it hard to do a proper evaluation of the risks connected to the product portfolio. On a positive note, the company has still not been involved in any serious incidents, awarding it six points in the Lack of Controversies category this year as well. In the remaining categories, Linde’s performance continues to be weak across the board.
Opportunities for improvement
- The merger of equals with Praxair in 2019 offered Linde the chance to travel even further on the road towards sustainability, but we don’t see any signs of that in the company’s chemical management. Linde is one of very few ChemScore companies that have suffered a significant loss in ChemScore compared to last year and are down six points. The company, now falling behind its peers Air Liquide and Air Products, should reignite the engine, accelerate and see the opportunities. One obvious opportunity for improvement is phasing out the PIC substance that Linde still offers. PIC, short for Prior Informed Consent, is one of the key provisions of the Rotterdam Convention, allowing the export of – often domestically restricted – hazardous chemicals to poorer countries with weaker chemical legislation, as long as the receiving country signs a consent that it understands what it is accepting and has a plan for how to handle it.
- Linde received just one point for circularity this year. Although the company claims that over 90 percent of the revenue for 2020 came from products produced from renewable sources, waste or by-products, Linde lacks its own circular products or concepts. We know that the company once tried to use CO2 as a safer substitute to textile dry cleaning. Linde should keep thinking and innovating in this direction.
- Last year, we rewarded Linde’s Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) system as a chemical management system that identifies and minimizes risks. This year, the language is too vague, containing phrases like “ensure high standards”. We would like to see a clear statement about the company’s assessment of intrinsic hazards. Additionally, we would like to see a clear statement about new products – not only that “misuse is considered”, but that Linde is designing out hazardous ingredients.
Category breakdown
Linde produces/uses 4 highly hazardous substances – 2 SIN List chemicals, 1 PIC, and 1 HHP – none of which are included on the EU’s REACH Candidate List. None of these highly hazardous substances are either banned or severely restricted, with set dates when production needs to cease (no Authorisation List substances, and no POPs). The company produces no persistent chemicals.
Please note that there is no available data for the 50 percent of the company’s production that takes place outside of the EU and US. Lower EU/US production means higher uncertainty with regard to the total production of hazardous chemicals, which will have a negative impact on the company’s score in this category.
Linde has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products but does not include the intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. Neither does it exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products. Linde actively markets safer alternatives on its own website but not on ChemSec Marketplace. The company does not have any true circular products, processes or innovations. Linde does not use bio-based resources. Nor does it source or treat recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. Linde is not actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.
The British company does not produce only sustainable products, and it does not have a timed phase-out strategy for hazardous substances that go beyond regulatory compliance. It shares chemical safety information on its website and is following a credible code of conduct standard. Linde did not respond to ChemSec’s attempts to communicate around its ChemScore ranking and it does not share any information about what kind of chemicals it produces in regions with low regulatory demands for transparency (e.g. Asia). Linde does not have a circular economy program in place, and it does not have objective and measurable circular economy targets.
Between 2011 and 2020, Linde paid close to 470,000 USD in fines for 12 environmental violations, according to the violation tracker project of Good Jobs First. Controversies includes alleged pollution of waterways, violation of pipeline safety, and violation of air quality standards.
Download Controversies Linde (PDF, 109 KB)