Grade summary

Lotte Chemical does not produce any SIN List substances, nor does the company produce any substances officially recognised as chemicals of high concern by the EU. However, data is only available for 6% of the Seoul-based company’s production, as the rest takes place outside the EU and US. The company does not have a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products nor does it have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances. Lotte Chemical follows some voluntary standards of good conduct but has nonetheless been involved in a few environmental violations over the last ten years, including collusion with pollution reporting agencies to fudge and misreport air pollutant emissions.

Opportunities for improvement

1. Add transparency to the hazardous product portfolio. We can only rank 6% of Lotte Chemical’s overall production since the rest takes place outside the EU and US. For other regions there are no reliable and publicly available sources for identifying producers of hazardous chemicals. Informing ChemSec of hazardous chemical production outside the EU and US could help raise the company’s score.
2. The company should develop more safer alternatives. Although we identified some safer products, more should be developed and actively marketed.
3. To prevent discharges of harmful chemicals by organising inspections and training is very important, but it’s not ambitious. Lotte Chemical should implement a screening method and a chemicals management strategy in its “Sustainability Management System” in order to understand the company’s toxic footprint.

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