Within Sasol, various governance measures and practices are in place to mitigate potential risks across the life cycle of our products, with risk assessments performed for all products as informed by different national and regional requirements. Critical to the risk assessment process is input on the inherent substance hazard potential provided through the hazardous product classification applying the Global Harmonized System with applicable jurisdictional chemical control regulatory requirements.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
LCA is a standardized method for analyzing the potential environmental impacts of products throughout their entire lifecycle, as described in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
When the analyzed impact category is limited to climate impact, it is referred to as a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), with ISO 14067 applying. Given the current focus on reducing contributions to climate change, we are concentrating on attaining greater insight of the carbon footprint of our products. This includes all greenhouse gases, whose impacts contribute to the overall result as carbon dioxide equivalents. In addition to the corresponding ISO standard (ISO 14067), we also refer to the PCF Guideline from “Together for Sustainability,” which provides recommendations specifically for PCF creation by the chemical industry.
When Sasol began to engage in PCF calculations, it was within the context of specific projects covering a few products at a time. Customer inquiries related to this information have been growing steadily and continue to do so. Our goal now is to have most of our product portfolio covered with PCF information. We are systematically covering all Sasol sites to supply our customers with PCF information as requested. We aim to update the models annually, which will be used to update datasets related to plants, suppliers, lifecycle inventories, and to analyze the impact of potential improvement measures on the PCF results. Sasol is progressing well towards being able to provide PCF information for more than 90% of our production volume.
Advancing Safe Management of Hazardous Products through a Risk-Based Approach
In alignment with Sasol’s Group Commitment to the Safe Management of Hazardous Products specifically Key Focus Area 3: Risk-Based Approach to Chemicals Management, Sasol has robust governance measures to proactively manage potential risks across the entire life cycle of our products.
At Sasol, risk assessments are conducted for all products, guided by applicable national and regional regulatory frameworks. A cornerstone of this process is the evaluation of inherent substance hazards, which is informed by the classification of hazardous products in accordance with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), as well as jurisdiction specific chemical control regulations.
Importantly, 100% of Sasol’s product portfolio is classified and labelled in full compliance with the GHS, ensuring consistency, transparency, and safety in communication across global markets. This universal approach to hazard communication not only facilitates regulatory compliance across jurisdictions but also enhances the protection of human health and the environment by enabling clear, harmonized understanding of chemical hazards among workers, customers, emergency responders, and downstream users. By adopting GHS, Sasol supports safer handling, transport, and use of its products throughout the value chain.