The design of safe and sustainable chemicals requires collaboration across the board

The European Commission has published the joint report on the concept of Safe and Sustainable-by Design (SSbD) agreed by all participants of the High-Level Roundtable on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability on 18 May 2022. As one of the members of the High-Level Roundtable, Cefic supports the overall recommendations put forward in this report. From the industry’s perspective, the following three aspects are key to accelerating the development of the SSbD chemicals, materials and processes:

1. The framework should be predictive, and support innovation. There is a collective responsibility to make the framework accessible and operational for all businesses, big and small, and to ensure it is an incentive for upstream suppliers, downstream customers and even final users. 

2. There is a strong need for collaboration. To make the transition to SSbD, we need cooperation along the whole value chain both in the EU and internationally because of the interconnected nature of global supply chains. An international approach could ensure a level-playing field across borders. 

3. The development and acceptance of new approaches and the use of innovative technologies for informing on safety of chemicals should be accelerated.