Grade summary

Sasol produces 17 SIN List substances, four of which are officially recognised as chemicals of high concern by the EU. 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. Sasol follows several voluntary standards of good conduct, but has nonetheless been involved in a couple of environmental violations over the last ten years, including severe air pollution in the region of Sasolburg, South Africa where the company operates an oil refinery.

Opportunities for improvement

1. Sasol has the second lowest score in the entire ChemScore ranking. A first step to improve a company’s chemicals management is to gain an overview of where and how much hazardous chemicals are being used. The company should, therefore, implement a screening method to increase knowledge of the company’s production and use of hazardous chemicals.
2. Add transparency to the hazardous product portfolio. We can only rank 37% of Sasol’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.
3. Sasol’s perspective of managing exposure risks rather than the intrinsic hazards of chemicals is, unfortunately, still common in the chemical industry. Nevertheless, frontrunners are nowadays committing to timed phase-out plans. Africa’s biggest chemical company should follow this trend and communicate its efforts to reduce the production of hazardous chemicals in a clear and transparent way.

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