Safer Chemistry Impact Fund unveils first measurement framework for safer chemistry

The Safer Chemistry Impact Fund has launched a new open-architecture framework to help companies measure chemical hazards and track progress toward safer chemistry across products and supply chains. The release aims to fill a long-standing gap in standardized chemistry metrics, with a webinar set for September.

Why it matters: - Companies have had no standardized way to measure progress toward safer chemistry, even as carbon emissions measurement has become routine. - The new framework gives organizations a common method to identify chemical hazards, find data gaps, and compare progress over time. - Better measurement can influence product stewardship, procurement, sustainability reporting, and decisions on safer alternatives.

What happened: - The Safer Chemistry Impact Fund released the Safer Chemistry Impact Metrics Framework on August 19, 2026. - The framework is an open-architecture system for measuring chemical hazards across products and supply chains. - The launch comes from Washington, DC.

The details: - The framework translates chemical inventory and hazard data into standardized metrics. - Organizations can use the metrics to identify chemicals of concern, understand where information is missing, benchmark progress, and evaluate safer substitutions. - The framework is not a certification program and not a regulatory requirement. - It is designed as a shared measurement foundation that can support reporting and future standards development. - A core principle says chemicals cannot receive a “safer” designation until hazard data gaps are filled. - The approach is meant to reduce the risk of replacing one hazardous chemical with another that is less understood. - The framework reflects collaboration among industry leaders, technical experts, investors, nonprofit organizations, and other stakeholders. - It also draws on three years of practical implementation in the beauty and personal care, apparel and footwear, consumer electronics, and built environment sectors. - Those pilots showed the metrics can work across complex global supply chains. - The framework can help organizations quantify the share of a portfolio made up of verified safer chemistry. - It can also help measure characterization and disclosure gaps and strengthen sustainability reporting with more transparent chemical information. - The Safer Chemistry Impact Metrics Framework is available at more information. - Registration is open for a September informational webinar at webinar registration.

Between the lines: - The launch signals an effort to bring chemistry measurement closer to the kind of standardized reporting used in climate disclosures. - The framework could give buyers, investors, and brands a shared language for comparing chemical risk and progress. - The emphasis on data gaps suggests the SCI Fund is trying to make incomplete information visible instead of assuming unknown chemicals are safe. - Version 1 is an invitation for outside groups to test the methodology and improve it through real-world use.

What's next: - The SCI Fund is asking companies, investors, technical experts, and other stakeholders to implement the framework and share feedback. - Real-world use is expected to shape future versions of the methodology. - The organization said the goal is to build a shared foundation industries can use together to accelerate safer chemistry adoption. - SCI Fund is fiscally sponsored by the Windward Fund. - Seed funding has come from Apple, Google, and the Forsythia Foundation.