In Washington, D.C., the Safer Chemistry Impact Fund (SCI Fund) published the Safer Chemistry Impact Metrics Framework: A Universal Blueprint for Standardizing Chemical Footprinting and Reporting, supplying global supply chain entities with an open-architecture tool to uniformly evaluate chemical risks, spot missing information, and track advancement toward safer chemistry.
Bridging the Carbon Reporting Gap in Global Supply Chains
Companies have long relied on standardized frameworks to measure carbon emissions. Until now, no comparable system has existed for measuring progress toward safer chemistry. The newly released framework translates complex chemical inventory and hazard information into standardized metrics. Businesses can leverage these metrics to pinpoint problematic chemicals, recognize information shortfalls, evaluate progress, and choose better, safer substitutes.
“Organizations can’t solve a problem they can’t measure,” said Bill Walsh, Board Chair of the Safer Chemistry Impact Fund, highlighting the disparity between carbon accounting and chemical management. “Companies are documenting impressive progress on carbon reduction because there are reliable ways to measure carbon emissions. This Framework gives organizations a comparable means of understanding chemical hazards, and a practical way to identify priorities, make better decisions, and measure progress toward safer chemistry.”
Real-World Pilots Across Multiple Sectors
Unlike a certification program or regulatory requirement, the framework serves as a common foundation for measurement. Through this system, entities gain a uniform method to describe chemical dangers, pinpoint data deficiencies, and disclose chemical footprint statistics. Those metrics can support product stewardship, sustainability reporting, procurement, target setting, and future standards development.
The architecture didn’t emerge in a vacuum. The design stems from three years of practical testing across four specific industries: beauty and personal care, apparel and footwear, consumer electronics, and the built environment. Those real-world pilots demonstrated how standardized metrics can be applied across complex global supply chains.
Solving Incomplete Hazard Information
A central tenet of the framework tackles the widespread challenge of lacking hazard details for numerous frequently used chemicals. Until data gaps are filled, chemicals cannot achieve a “safer” designation. By utilizing this framework, companies can spot missing details, prioritize further investigation, and lower the danger of swapping one hazardous substance for another with poorly understood properties.
“Chemical data only becomes valuable when it helps organizations make better decisions,” said Rachel Simon, ChemFORWARD’s Senior Manager of Safer Chemistry Collaboratives. “This is an exciting moment because several years of investment are converging. The Safer Chemistry Impact Fund has united stakeholders around a shared vision for measuring safer chemistry, while ChemFORWARD has demonstrated that trusted hazard information can be generated and shared at scale. The Framework brings those elements together, enabling organizations to generate comparable metrics, collaborate more effectively, and accelerate the transition to safer chemistry.”
Next Steps for Industry Implementation
Version 1 marks the beginning of an open, collaborative process. The SCI Fund encourages companies, investors, technical specialists, and other interested parties to adopt the framework, exchange their insights, and refine the approach through practical implementation.
“We don’t expect one organization to solve this challenge alone,” Walsh noted regarding the rollout. “The goal is to create a shared foundation that industries can build on together. Better measurement leads to better decisions, and better decisions help accelerate the transition to safer chemistry.”
