New guidance for environmental footprint released

GENEVA-The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has released a new guide designed for chemical industry customers and stakeholders to make more informed, sustainable choices. Entitled “Life Cycle Metrics for Chemical Products”, the guidance document is the result of a collaboration between leading chemical companies that are part of the WBCSD’s Reaching Full Potential project.

Focused on life cycle assessment methods, a key objective of the new guide is to provide and communicate material information about the environmental footprint of products that customers and stakeholders can trust and compare. A key role of the chemical industry is to enable improved sustainability across value chains, a principle fully embraced by the member companies of the Reaching Full Potential project. However, in order to get true market pull for more sustainable products and realize the WBCSD’s Vision 2050 – 9 billion people living well within the limits of the planet – there is a clear need to communicate reliable information on a wide range of issues.

Reaching Full Potential companies will continue to advance developments in sustainability metrics for the chemical sector. The Project is currently developing a guide for companies to assess the impact and benefits of chemical products from a social perspective. This work was launched in early 2014 and is expected to be ready by late 2015.

Member companies and partners of the chemical sector Reaching Full Potential project are: AkzoNobel; BASF; DSM; Cefic; Eastman Chemical; Evonik Industries; Henkel; SABIC; SCG Chemicals Company; Solvay; Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Company, and supported by PricewaterhouseCoopers.