Reason for conducting the research

Following our participation in several projects in the Chemical industry, our team at Finch & Beak- part of SLR identified some alarming indicators that the Chemical Distribution sector was acutely delaying the rest of the value chain in sustainability.

In response to this, we decided to determine the sustainability maturity of the industry and to identify the environmental, social and governance (ESG) gaps the industry is facing. With a focus on the European Chemical Distribution industry, a total of 38 European chemical distribution leaders, each with a revenue of above EUR 200 million (based on 2020 data) were assessed. Together, the 38 companies represent a market revenue of approximately EUR 54 billion.

Research approach

The core part of the industry research is an analysis known as the Portfolio Sustainability Assessment (PSA) as developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. This was used to assess the 38 chemical distributors’ sustainability performance, based on publicly available evidence.

To gather qualitative and quantitative elements, two analyses were carried out:

1. Operational Vulnerability
2. Market Alignment

These two, together forms the source data to form a matrix in which the overall performance of the companies can be plotted. A diverse, sector-specific list of Key Performance Indicators was developed, based on criteria from best-in-class ESG benchmarks, such as the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) from S&P Global and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), as well as trend reports. In addition to this, desk research was conducted to deliver final conclusions determining which KPIs to include in the analysis.

Chemical Distribution sector ranking

By using the scores of individual companies on operational vulnerability and market alignment and plotting them against each other, a sector overview representing the percentile ranking of each company’s performance is the result. The company ranking can be downloaded using the button at the top of the article.

^{Photo by Roberta keiko Kitahara Santana on Unsplash.}