The Chemical Footprint Project report shows how leading companies cut their use of harmful chemicals, as investors managing $4 trillion press for more disclosure
SOMERVILLE, MASS.: Companies participating in the Chemical Footprint Project have cut their use of hazardous chemicals by 680 million pounds over the past decade, roughly the weight of 1,156 Airbus A380 jumbo jets, according to the 2026 Chemical Footprint Project Report released today by the nonprofit Clean Production Action.
“The Chemical Footprint Project tells us whether a company is managing chemical risk or waiting to discover it,” said Marcy McCullaugh, Ph.D., Director, Sustainability Research and Stewardship at Parnassus Investments, one of the signatories to the Chemical Footprint Project.
The Chemical Footprint Project (CFP), a program of Clean Production Action, scores companies on how they manage, measure, reduce, and disclose their use of chemicals of concern. Chemicals of high concern to humans and the planet include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, aka the “forever chemicals”). These chemicals are linked to human toxicity including carcinogenicity, reproductive/developmental toxicity, endocrine disrupting compounds, and neurotoxicity.
Companies reporting in this year's survey span building products and furnishings, retail, household and personal care products, electronics, and medical equipment and supplies. CFP signatories include investors with more than $4 trillion in assets under management and purchasers with more than $1 trillion in procurement power. Signatories to CFP encourage companies in their sphere of influence to reduce their chemical footprint, grow safer solutions, and participate in the survey.
Nine companies earned Frontrunner status by scoring 75 or more points out of 100 across four pillars of chemical safety: management strategy, chemical inventory, footprint measurement, and disclosure and verification. The 2026 Frontrunners, companies leading the way in safer chemical management are: Case Medical, Inc.; The Clorox Company; Ecolab Inc.; GOJO Industries, LLC (the maker of Purell); Grove Collaborative, Inc.; MillerKnoll, Inc.; Naturepedic Organic Mattresses; SW Sustainability Solutions Inc.; and Walmart Inc.
“Every ounce of hazardous chemicals that a company designs out of its products and supply chain is an ounce that never reaches a consumer or worker, or ends up in our soil or water,” said Dr. Derreck Kayongo, executive director of Clean Production Action. “The Frontunner companies are proving this work can be done at scale, and helping us break the perpetual cycle of toxic chemical usage.”
The report also examines the legal and financial risks for companies that continue to use hazardous chemicals. PFAS manufacturers have been directed to pay more than $10 billion to settle claims of U.S. water systems contamination alone, and some analysts project total PFAS liabilities could exceed the $206 billion Big Tobacco settlement from 1998.
Ten years of CFP survey data show a consistent pattern of chemical management maturity: companies typically start by identifying the chemicals they plan to restrict, then build chemical management systems and strategies and begin measurably reducing their use of chemicals of concern while selecting safer alternatives, and then publicly disclose where they are on their chemical management journey.
The CFP is the first-of-its-kind initiative to measure chemical footprints and assess corporate progress toward safer alternatives, and the only survey of this type that scores companies across industry sectors. The report was authored by Mark Rossi, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at UMass Lowell and Ellen Goldberg, MBA, deputy director of Clean Production Action.
The next Chemical Footprint Project Survey, which is open to companies at no cost, begins in spring 2027. By participating in the CFP Survey, companies can help future-proof their organizations against regulatory changes and shifts in consumer demand.
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Clean Production Action is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to design and deliver strategic solutions for green chemicals, sustainable materials, and environmentally preferable products. We are a solutions organization. Our tools, GreenScreen® for Safer Chemicals and Chemical Footprint Project, simplify the complexity of substituting chemicals of concern to human health and the environment with green chemistry solutions. Our collaborations, BizNGO and Investor Environmental Health Network, provide effective platforms for practitioners and thought leaders to work together in advancing chemicals, materials, products, and systems that are healthy for people and the planet.