KNOWLEDGE HUB
CREATING HOPE, CULTIVATING AGENCY
We believe in our collective ability to systematically reduce, and one day eliminate, chemical pollution.
The Fund will develop a science-based, data-driven communications strategy tailored to sectors that will serve as an engine to frame the opportunity, instill optimism, and create agency throughout the supply chain.
MAKE THE CASE:
Safer chemistry is an urgent priority for corporate ESG, national and international development goals
INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC DATA:
Four industry-specific baseline reports will establish goals; annual reports will show progress and highlight opportunities for innovation
AMPLIFY WINS:
Publish case examples of alternatives adoption in specific use cases
These strategic communications have the potential to empower and create agency with facts highlighting what we know to be true: Chemical hazards are knowable. The number of chemicals we are dealing with is manageable. Shared data is an enabler. And collaboration is an accelerator.
KEY MESSAGES WILL INCLUDE but not limited to:
FEATURED
REPORTS
Beauty & Personal Care Ingredient Intelligence Report
A ROADMAP TO ACCELERATED SAFER CHEMISTRY FOR ALLS
Released October 2024
Accelerating the Transition to Safer Chemistry
ESTABLISHING A COLLECTIVE VISION AND IMPACT METRICS
Released August 2024
CASE EXAMPLES
CASE EXAMPLE I
RAPID SCREENING TO PROTECT WORKER HEALTH
With support from Apple, ChemFORWARD developed a rapid screening framework powered by 100s of assessments for common ingredients in cleaner and degreaser formulations, underscoring the power of the Data Trust to address worker health concerns in one of the highest use materials in electronics manufacturing. With coverage of >95% of known ingredients, this dataset enables suppliers to rapidly screen their formulations and optimize with safer alternatives, safeguarding the health of thousands of workers in the global electronics assembly industry. These resources are accessible to all brands and suppliers at www.ChemWorks.org, demonstrating how shared data can enable safer chemistry adoption at scale.
CASE EXAMPLE II
COLLABORATION ACCELERATES SAFER CHEMISTRY
ChemFORWARD initiated a research project to analyze the top 100 ingredients used across >10,000 products in the beauty and personal care sector and assigned a confident hazard band to 70% of the ingredients. Initiated with data from one retailer, the project inspired leading retailers, brands, and suppliers to form the
Know Better, Do Better Collaborative, making a commitment to strategically address the lack of data on ingredients and share data that is generated. In Fall 2024, the Collaborative will publish its first aggregated industry report and recommendations for collective action, demonstrating how collaboration accelerates progress toward safer chemistry.
CASE EXAMPLE III
A SAFER CHEMISTRY ROADMAP FOR BUILDING MATERIALS
Using a dataset provided by the Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC), ChemFORWARD analyzed 7200 products containing 82,000 disclosed substances and narrowed the dataset to an actionable 3200 unique substances from 544 manufacturers. ChemFORWARD toxicologists were then able to assign a confident hazard band to 54% of the 3200 substances underscoring the power of the Chemical Hazard Data Trust. This pilot project resulted in a clear roadmap for intervention to eliminate chemicals of concern and to fill priority data gaps, demonstrating that chemical hazards are knowable, and the number of chemicals is manageable even in a complex industry sector.
NOTE: Unique to building materials, -50% of F’s and ?s meet the criteria for “Special Conditions”. Special Conditions recognize that there are practical limitations to disclosure and characterization of substances and materials listed by CAS# (e.g.form specific, polymers, variable composition, geological materials, etc.). In these cased, Trade name assessments from individual suppliers are recommended to fully understand the hazard profile.
OTHER RESOURCES
To be effective in protecting human health and the environment, any sustainable chemistry effort should take a hazard-first approach using comprehensive chemical hazard data. Exposure, risk, and life cycle considerations are all built upon a hazard assessment—getting the foundational information correct is essential. The Fund takes a hazard-first approach to accelerate and scale society’s ability to implement safer chemistry from the range of available alternatives while contributing to the development of truly sustainable chemistry in the long term. The following resources provide more information about the hazard-first approach and chemical hazard reduction tools and strategies.
ChemFORWARD
ChemFORWARD centralizes and creates broad access to comprehensive chemical hazard data that is accessible with a unique cost sharing, data sharing model and governed by a multi-stakeholder stewardship council.
CHEMWORKS
ChemWorks is an industry collaboration managed by ChemFORWARD, a science-based, non-profit value chain collaboration to advance safer chemistry, the sharing of data and safer alternatives, and the verification and promotion of materials that meet rigorous scientific evaluation. It features a registry of safer cleaners for electronics manufacturing.
EPA Safer Choice
The EPA’s Safer Choice program provides information about a wide variety of cleaning products and features the hazard-based Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL list) of safer chemicals.
Retailer Report Card
Mind The Store, a consumer advocacy campaign, uses hazard-based criteria to evaluate Toxic-Free Future’s Retailer Report Card benchmarks and scores the biggest retailers in the U.S. on their safer chemicals policies