Yara

Yara International is one of the world’s largest producers of nitrogen fertilisers and a major player in the growth of industrial agriculture. Yara produces, distributes, and sells nitrogen-based mineral fertilisers and other related industrial products. The company also sells a range of phosphate and potash-based mineral fertilisers, as well as complex and specialty mineral fertiliser products. The Norwegian government owns more than a third of Yara and is its largest shareholder.

Total score

16 / 48

Grade summary

Yara International produces 3 highly hazardous chemicals. This is a relatively low number compared to many other companies in the ranking. However, the fact that only about half of the company’s production takes place within the EU and…

Product Portfolio

6 / 18

Yara produces/uses 3 highly hazardous substances – 3 SIN List chemicals, no PICs, and 2 HHPs – 2 of which are included on the EU’s REACH Candidate List. None of these highly hazardous substances are either banned or severely restricted (no Authorisation List substances, and no POPs). The company produces no persistent chemicals.

Please note that there is no available data for the 49 percent of the company’s production that takes place outside of the EU and US. Lower EU/US production means higher uncertainty with regard to the total production of hazardous chemicals, which will have a negative impact on the company’s score in this category.

Development of Safer Chemicals

2 / 12

Yara has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products, but does not include the intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. Nor does it exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products. Yara actively markets safer alternatives on its own website, but not on ChemSec Marketplace. The company has no true circular product, process or innovation. Yara does not use biobased resources. Nor does it source and treat recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. Yara is not actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.

Management & Transparency

2 / 12

The Norwegian company does not produce only sustainable products. Nor does it have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances that go beyond regulatory compliance. It shares chemical safety information on its website and is following a credible code of conduct standard. Yara did not respond to ChemSec’s attempts to communicate around its ChemScore ranking. Nor does it share any information about what kind of chemicals it produces in regions with low regulatory demands for transparency (e.g. Asia). Yara does not have a circular economy program in place, thus lacking objective and measurable circular economy targets.