Grade summary

Lotte Chemical is down two points in total compared to last year’s ranking, but manages to keep its D+ grade. From the data that is publicly available – which is only 14 percent of their portfolio – the company produces no hazardous chemicals. Lotte Chemical gets zero points in the Management & Transparency category, in part for being one out of only three companies in the whole ChemScore ranking not having a suppliers’ code of conduct. The company makes environmental assessments of the life-cycle of their products and states that the production of eco-friendly products is a main topic. However, no circular product or process fulfilling the criteria set out in ChemScore could be identified. Lotte Chemical has a program on plastic recycling and a declaration of “Green Promises 2030”, but the KPIs and strategies to fulfill these ambitions are unclear.

 How did we come to this score?

Opportunities for improvement

1. Increase transparency
   Only 14 percent of Lotte Chemical’s chemical portfolio is known. We have requested that the company disclose information about its chemicals management, but the company has not responded to that request. In order to be more transparent, Lotte Chemical should disclose the full list of hazardous chemicals that it produces, including the volume of each of these chemicals as well as its percentage of the total revenue. It would also be wise to specify which chemicals are intended for end products and for intermediate use. Generally speaking, information about chemicals sold in EU and US markets is available through public records, which is not the case in other parts of the world. For that reason, Lotte Chemical should make the details of its revenue generated outside of these regions public to ensure chemical transparency and allow for a comprehensive global evaluation.
2. Market safer alternatives
   We did identify safer alternatives in Lotte Chemical’s product portfolio, but these are not marketed on any independent third-party platform. Therefore, they are hard to find for downstream users looking to substitute hazardous chemicals. A good place to advertise is ChemSec’s Marketplace, where buyers and suppliers can find and market safer alternatives.
3. Increase circularity
   The chemical industry finds itself at the beginning of the value chain. Therefore, it has a responsibility to act fast and ambitiously against the ever-growing scarcity of our planet’s resources. But Lotte Chemical receives only point for its circularity practices, since we were unable to identify any circular products, processes or strategies. Nor did we see a decrease in hazardous waste or commenced/increased use of recycled hazard-free feedstock or biobased material. For these reasons, it is important that Lotte Chemical starts with identifying its current production and use of circular products and processes, and then specifies how many percent of its total revenue comes from circular products. The company should also develop and present a strategy, which includes an activity plan, with clear indicators for how to expand the area of circular products and processes.

Category breakdown