Every company has a chemical footprint, whether it works with chemicals as part of its business or uses products made from chemicals. However, until recently, common metrics had not been established to measure how well a company manages its chemicals.
Praxis Mutual Funds signed as an investor signatory to the Chemical Footprint Project, an initiative to collect and disclose data on chemical use by companies. By signing on to the initiative, Praxis is committed to encouraging companies in its investment portfolios to participate in the Chemical Footprint Project and implement programs to substitute toxic chemicals with safer alternatives.
Increasingly, companies are measuring and publishing data on their environmental sustainability in areas like water and carbon emissions. However, without a standardized metric to measure chemical impact, investors and consumers lack the ability to hold companies accountable for their corporate chemical management, and assess and compare the performance of companies individually or within a sector.
The Chemical Footprint Project seeks to bridge that gap by creating a framework for measuring companies on their overall chemical management programs. This project provides an additional tool for the shareholder advocacy work Praxis Mutual Funds does on toxic chemicals.