Grade summary

Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical produces ten SIN List substances, one of which is officially recognised as a chemical of high concern by the EU. However, 91% of production takes place outside the EU and US, which means that data on the majority of the Chinese company’s production is not publicly available. 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. The company follows several voluntary standards of good conduct, but has nonetheless been involved in numerous environmental violations over the last ten years, including illegal discharges of toxic substances into rainwater drains and chronic river pollution. Several explosions at the company’s facilities have also been reported.

Opportunities for improvement

1. Add transparency to the hazardous product portfolio. We can only rank 9% of Sinopec Shanghai’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 of the EU and US could help raise the company’s score.
2. Sinopec Shanghai has the lowest score in the entire ChemScore ranking. A first step to improve a company’s chemicals management is to have an overview of where and how much hazardous chemicals are being used. The Chinese petrochemical giant should, therefore, implement a screening method to increase knowledge of the company’s production and use of hazardous chemicals.
3. Since accidents and environmental violations have been common occurrences, Sinopec Shanghai should improve safety processes and train employees in order to reduce environmental incidents.

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