One year of Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability: the chemical industry perspective
It’s been one year since the European Commission released its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) as an essential part of the Green Deal and its zero-pollution ambition. The CSS aims to boost innovation for safe and sustainable chemicals, increase protection of human health and the environment, and strengthen chemicals legislation. But how can we best seize opportunities to achieve its main goals? In a recent virtual conference organised by Chemical Watch, Cefic speakers representing the views of the chemical industry shared some insights.
Defining harmonised assessment criteria: a joint exercise
“What we really welcome in the CSS is the innovation approach and the actions initiated by the European Commission to develop criteria for assessing whether innovations are Safe and Sustainable-by-Design”, said Ann Dierckx, Cefic Sustainability Director. “Taking the Safe and Sustainable-by-Design concept successfully forward will require a set of harmonised criteria to be used starting at the design phase. These criteria should be commonly agreed on by all stakeholders”, highlighted Dierckx. Cefic has developed a 4-step approach to define criteria bulding on amongst others the expertise of industry champions assessing the sustainability of their product portfolio-as input to the ongoing work in this area by the European Commission.
Creating a business case: Incentivising innovation and substitution
“If set right and applied at scale, the safe and sustainable-by-design criteria for chemicals, materials and products envisioned in CSS can incentivise transformation, substitution and more”, pointed out Sylvie Lemoine, Cefic Executive Director Product Stewardship. “We need more clarity and predictability on new regulatory concepts introduced in the CSS, and science as the trust element. We should do things right, not only fast”.
The regulatory ambitions of the CSS are high. “We would like to see the same level of ambition applied to competitiveness, enforcement, and alternatives to animal testing”, said Lemoine. This will allow Europe to attract investors, which in turn can accelerate innovation.
Defining essential use: setting the scope
As part of the CSS debate, a current question is around the notion of essential use and how it will be used to regulate chemicals in Europe. Steven Van de Broeck, Cefic Director REACH & Chemicals Policy, highlighted that there are different views and interpretations of the concept of essential use. “We need first to build a common understanding of the concept, its goals, and basic principles. We need clarity on what we want to achieve, where it will be applied, as well as boundaries, before diving into practicalities”, said Van de Broeck.
“Defining what is essential for the societies will require tough decisions. There are no exact algorithms to define it. A judgment will be necessary to define what is essential or not for society, and it should be done by an ‘accountable body’”, Van de Broeck concluded.