CDP's Latest Sector Focused Research:
Environmental Risk in the Diversifieds Chemical Indsutry 

Brown Advisory is pleased to host “Environmental Risk in the Diversified Chemicals Industry,” a presentation of key findings and engagement opportunities from CDP’s latest sectorial research report “Back to the Laboratory: Are global chemical companies innovating for a low-carbon future?”

Key findings of the research include:

• DuPont is a comfortable leader (overall score of 6.12) with A and B grades across all areas except for supply chain optimization. Data analyzed for DuPont pre-dates the June spin-off of its high-emitting chemicals business, making its achievement even more impressive;
• Dutch companies DSM and AkzoNobel are second and third, with three A-grades each. The top three are the only companies to achieve an A-grade in our new carbon regulation readiness area, emphasizing the leadership of companies supportive of low carbon regulation;
• German companies BASF and Bayer are ranked fifth and sixth. They would have ranked higher but for their poor performance in our carbon regulation readiness area, where they both scored an E. According to InfluenceMap^[1], BASF appears to oppose a number of policies relating to climate change in the EU, including the potential reforms to the EU ETS to make it more efficient, and Bayer lacks transparency with its position towards climate change policies. This is surprising given their good performance in the other five key areas;
• There are three Japanese companies in the top half of the table, and three in the bottom half. Sumitomo (fourth) is the leading Japanese company, with Nitto Denko (fifteenth) the lowest ranking Japanese company, due to high water risk, poor data transparency and supply chain optimization including a worrying lack of supplier or customer engagement;
• After DuPont, the four remaining US companies are spread throughout the table, with Dow Chemical mid-table (ninth) and Ashland last. All five US companies performed poorly in the supply chain optimization analysis, receiving D and E grades. Eastman and Solvay join Ashland in the bottom three of the table. They all receive two E-grades, including in the most important area of process and energy efficiency. Ashland is the worst performer on future emissions reduction targets, which does not bode well for its commitment to future efficiency savings. Solvay is ranked bottom on emissions-reduction performance over the last ten years;
• Disclosure to CDP is critical to achieve the highest level of data quality, as risk for non-responders cannot be assessed. The largest non-responders to CDP’s 2014 questionnaire were: LyondellBasell Industries, Nan Ya Plastics, Formosa Plastics, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre, Petronas Chemicals, Westlake Chemicals and Celanese Corporation.