The Mosaic Company

Grade summary

Industry peers are way ahead of The Mosaic Company, which scores one point less than last year and ends up with a D+ grade. Even though the fertilizer company does not produce any hazardous substances, less than half of the production is sold in the EU or US market. This means that there is no available information for the majority of the company’s production. Mosaic does not have a systematic hazard-screening method in place. Neither does it advertise safer alternatives on independently evaluated third-party platforms, nor offer circular products. The company does, however, receive points for trying to reduce the environmental impacts of fertilizers on water and the atmosphere. When it comes to controversies, the company has paid extraordinarily high fines during the last ten years due to different leaks and spills.

How did we come to this score?

Opportunities for improvements

1. Increase transparency
   Not much is known about The Mosaic Company’s production of hazardous chemicals, since 62 percent of their revenue are generated outside of the EU/US. We have requested that the company disclose information about its chemicals management, but The Mosaic Company has not responded to that request. In order to be more transparent, The Mosaic Company 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, Mosaic 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. Prevent further controversies
   The Mosaic Company has been involved in incidents leading to liabilities of several billion US dollars and should re-design or dramatically improve its Environment, Health and Safety strategy. This would help the company to better avoid incidents and make sure that controls – functioning even when human errors occur – are in place. If an accident or spill should happen, it is important that The Mosaic Company identifies the cause and publishes a document on strategies that will be implemented to avoid similar occurrences in the future. It is possible to prevent human suffering and environmental pollution when producing chemicals, but it requires a thorough Environment, Health and Safety system.
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 The Mosaic Company receives zero points for circularity 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 the company starts by identifying its current production and use of circular products and processes. 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.

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