NOT CURRENT YEAR
SABIC
Grade summary
SABIC produces 23 SIN List substances (including one persistent chemical), with four 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 the screening process. SABIC follows several voluntary standards of good conduct and has over a hundred product safety datasheets available for download on the company website. The company does not, however, have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances.
Opportunities for improvement
- Add transparency to the hazardous product portfolio. We can only rank less than a third of SABIC’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 score.
- SABIC claims to “constantly monitor regulatory changes” and “ensure registration and inventory compliance”. From our perspective, this is a rather reactive approach, far from being a frontrunner in terms of sustainability. We would like to see commitments for phase-out plans of hazardous substances.
- SABIC writes that they are “continuously introducing new, ‘greener’ materials and products”. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a single example when we did a search. We call on the Saudi company to show its sustainable and less-toxic product portfolio in an open and public way.
Category breakdown
SABIC produces 23 SIN List substances, four of which are included on the REACH Candidate List, with two of them also found on the REACH Authorisation List. The Saudi company produces one persistent chemical. Persistent chemicals are particularly problematic since they do not break down, but instead accumulate in humans and the environment. Because of this, persistent chemicals should be of extra concern for investors. Substances that are not considered a problem today could become huge liabilities in the future.
SABIC has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products and includes intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. The company does not exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products or follow the principles of green chemistry. It does, however, make use of the GreenScreen assessment tool and actively markets safer alternatives on its website.
The Saudi company shares chemical safety information on its website but does not have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances. SABIC is a member of Responsible Care and follows voluntary standards such as a Code of Conduct and a Supplier Code of Conduct.
SABIC has been involved in several workplace-related incidents and environmental violations during the last ten years. For example, a fire at a plant operated by a subsidiary killed 12 workers and injured 11 more in 2016. The next year, a shipping accident caused a massive spill of plastic nurdles. SABIC was accused of lack of transparency and collusion with the government authorities in an attempt to hide the extent of pollution caused by the accident.
Download detailed information on controversies (PDF, 115 KB)