Monday, January 5, 2015 by Tim Greiner

This article was co authored with Mark Rossi and Sally Edwards

Just as every company has a carbon footprint, every company has a chemical footprint — even companies not in the business of manufacturing and selling chemicals. If you are a retailer, those products that line your shelves are made from chemicals. If you sell services, you have an office with furniture, flooring, supplies and more — all made from chemicals. From changing regulatory requirements and customer demands to negative media attention and product recalls, companies have an increasing obligation to know more about the chemicals in their products and supply chains — to understand their chemical footprint.

The fact that chemicals are the foundation of everything around us presents significant management challenges for businesses that don’t know the chemicals in their products or supply chains, don’t understand the hazards of those chemicals and aren’t aware of the availability of safer alternatives. Increasingly, many companies are developing and implementing policies to better manage chemicals by demanding transparency from their suppliers and asking for safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. Target, Walmart, Staples, Whole Foods Market and healthcaregiants Dignity Health and Kaiser Permanente are among the end users of chemicals in products looking to reward suppliers that are proactive in their chemicals management. Yet tangible corporate progress towards safer chemicals is stymied by the lack of a consistent approach. (Read more here)