Mark Rossi’s life mission is to advance safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. In 2006, Rossi founded BizNGO, a collaboration of more than 500 business, environmental, and government leaders. After codirecting the Clean Production Action for 10 years, he cofounded the Chemical Footprint Project in 2014. The project, administered by CPA, uses a benchmark system to raise awareness about harmful chemicals. Rossi, who earned his PhD in environmental policy from the… …
Look no further than the financial and reputational travails of Lumber Liquidators for a stark example of the risks companies are exposed to when they have toxic chemicals in their products and supply chains. From February to May, the stock price of Lumber Liquidators plummeted 70 percent — and its CEO resigned — amid concerns that the company's laminate flooring products contained unacceptably high levels of formaldehyde. The formaldehyde fiasco highlights a challenging question… …
Somerville, MA [June 19, 2015] — You’ve heard of a company’s carbon footprint. Now it’s time for the chemical footprint. Despite growing regulatory efforts, businesses around the world continue to use chemicals of high concern to human health and environment. Formaldehyde and toxic phthalates in flooring are but two examples of hazardous chemicals that have caused health issues for consumers and financial and reputation problems for companies and their products.… …
A subject that comes up frequently in the context of managing and choosing chemicals, particularly for downstream users, is that of hazard and risk. With this piece we start what will be a series on the topic, particularly as it applies to considerations and questions that arise in the process of choosing safer chemicals. The obvious place to begin is by defining “hazard” and “risk” in the context of chemicals. Outside of this context, the common dictionary… …
Carbon and water footprints, along with other measures of environmental impact, are often incorporated into corporate social responsibility or sustainability reports. Many companies now make this information public in response to increasing demands for transparency from shareholders and consumers.5 Some tools currently exist for companies to incorporate chemicals into corporate sustainability analysis as well, but methods of reporting vary from company to company. Until recently there has… …
A new tool, the Chemical Footprint Project (CFP), aims to establish meaningful measurement of overall corporate performance towards safer chemicals in products and supply chains. Dr. Mark Rossi, project lead and co-founder of NGO Clean Production Action (CPA), says the CFP provides the first-ever common metric of its kind for publicly benchmarking corporate chemicals management and profiling leadership companies. The CFP works by evaluating four areas of a company: management strategy:… …
The U.S. is home to a vibrant network of “market campaigners” — environmental health advocates and social media active consumers — calling for safer chemical use in business practices. I’m one of them. To some companies, we’re a nuisance and scaremonger, while others see us as important catalysts. We’re increasingly forging constructive partnerships with businesses who share our chemical concerns. Market campaigns for safer chemicals are now a global… …
Concerns about the health and environmental impacts associated with some chemical products and processes have motivated a growing number of national, state, and local governments, manufacturers, and retailers to develop assessments and approaches for finding safer chemical substitutes. These existing assessment frameworks reflect a range of different priorities, whether the focus is on protecting workers, the environment, the end users of products, or other interests. The National… …
New Report Makes Strong Business Case for Using Safer Chemicals in Products and Supply Chains Geneva, 15 December 2014 - Chemicals are all around us, present in the products we use every day. The demand for increased transparency on chemicals up and down the supply chain is growing - we need to understand how and with what chemicals we are interacting. Download the full report here. Consumers, retailers and brands all want to know more, driving companies to disclose information about the… …