Boma Brown-West, Senior Manager, Consumer Health, EDF+Business

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is a leading national nonprofit with over 50 years of experience finding innovative ways to solve the toughest environmental problems.  EDF+Business is a division within EDF that combines cutting-edge science, economic expertise, and unexpected partnerships to influence high-impact companies such as Walmart, KKR, and FedEX to transform their products, operations, supply chains, and advocacy efforts. 

The primary focus at EDF+Business is on finding market-based solutions that drive ROI for both businesses and the environment.  They do this through direct corporate partnerships, programs such as the EDF Climate Corps fellowship, and multi-stakeholder initiatives that bring together both companies and nonprofits to develop solutions that benefit entire industries.  They also develop thought leadership on corporate responsibility for a variety of issues including climate change, sustainable supply chains, green freight, sustainable finance, and consumer health. 

The Consumer Health team works on issues related to exposure to toxic chemicals via consumer products. 

What do you actually do all day? 

Most of my day is spent collaborating with companies and other organizations to reduce the toxic chemicals present in consumer products.  We have other teams working on the sustainability issues around the development, use, and disposal of consumer products, but I focus on the hazard of the ingredients and the health impacts.  I don’t think many people realize just how much exposure to toxic chemicals we get from ingredients present in the beauty, cleaning, and other products in our homes.  That’s why EDF considers it so critical to work collaboratively across industries and throughout the supply chain to find better solutions. 

One solution I’m particularly excited about is the work we did to help Walmart to develop their Sustainable Chemistry Policy which covers about 125,000 personal care, beauty, and cleaning products across 900 suppliers.  The policy identifies targeted chemicals of concern called “Walmart Priority Chemicals” and encourages suppliers to reduce the use of these chemicals.  The policy also encourages suppliers to make ingredient lists more accessible to shoppers and to achieve preferred product certifications.  Products that carry the EPA Safer Choice, Cradle to Cradle Certified, or EWG Verified logos have demonstrated that they have had their products evaluated by programs that focus on ingredient safety.  Walmart is actively advancing their assortment to include products with these certifications. 

My role on these kinds of projects is to help our partner companies to figure out how to develop policies like this and how to set related public commitments.  It’s important when developing a policy to understand how it will impact the business, how we can help suppliers to meet those commitments, and how the business plans to hold itself accountable.  Walmart publishes their measured results against their commitments every year and the success and transparency of their work has led to other retailers setting up their own chemical policies.  It’s pretty amazing to see leaders such as Target, Amazon, Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens, Sephora, Home Depot and a number of others developing their own policies and approaches to eliminating chemicals of concern. 

I also help our partners on the implementation side.  Some companies are comfortable setting ambitious goals without knowing quite how they’ll get there, but others prefer to do research and get a good understanding of what’s possible before making a public commitment.  I help them to gain an understanding of what implementation looks like regardless of where they are in the goal setting process. 

I also represent EDF+Business in multi-stakeholder initiatives.  We are part of the Beauty and Personal Care Leadership Group which includes EDF, 5 retailers, several brands, and other NGOs.  The group developed The Beauty and Personal Care Product Sustainability Rating System with metrics that can be used to help measure how a personal care product is doing with respect to key environmental attributes including human health.  We also recently partnered with Cornell University to establish The Baby Food Council which includes several major baby food brands such as Gerber and Earth’s Best as well as technical advisors from the FDA and USDA.  The Council’s goal is to tackle heavy metal contamination in baby food. 

Another part of my role is producing thought leadership.  Our Behind the Label Campaign produces resources and tools for companies that are trying to tackle chemical management in a more proactive way.  Tools include a guide for how to prioritize chemicals to remove from your product portfolio, a sustainable chemicals policy template for retailers, rules for online disclosure of ingredients, a list of key chemicals of concern in food packaging and handling equipment, and others.  I also contribute to media outlets such as GreenBiz and Forbes as well as EDF’s blogs which share our point of view on various issues and applaud companies that are taking bold action.  Many of our readers are the people leading the corporate teams that are working on these issues and we provide them with perspectives that are rooted in both science and data but also understand the challenges associated with making these changes. 

What are some of the key skills for success in this role? 

Soft skills are incredibly important in a role like this.  There’s a lot of relationship management, collaboration across different functions and organizations, translating technical information into business language, and navigating sometimes difficult conversations. 

I’m not a chemist, but I do have a background in engineering.  This role requires technical and analytical skills in order to think through product systems, perform data analysis, and evaluate technical processes.  You also need to love numbers and not be afraid of chemical names either.  I work very closely with chemists, biologists, and public health experts so it’s really important to be able to translate information from these teams into solutions for businesses. 

What is your favorite part of your job?

I love engaging with and influencing such a wide variety of companies.  I spent ten years of my career working for one company, Whirlpool Corporation, in one sector which gave me a lot of fantastic learning opportunities, but at EDF I’ve been able to engage with a lot of different industries.  I also work across many different levels within industries – retailers, product manufacturers, chemical suppliers, and even other players in the value chain that most people don’t see.  It’s a lot of different people and groups with different goals so it can get complicated, and I really like that because I enjoy talking with people from different perspectives within the same system and better understanding their interactions.  When you’re looking for solutions that work for everyone, it’s important to acknowledge all of the different perspectives. 

What is the hardest part of your job?

I think the hardest part when I first started was learning how to influence companies from outside of the company or industry.  It’s a somewhat different skillset to be a change agent from the outside. 

It’s also difficult to balance the many requests we get for help from companies and other organizations.  We need to make sure we’re spending our time focused on the places where we can do the most good and make the biggest impact and that’s not always an easy decision. 

What is your proudest professional achievement?

I’m very proud of the work we’ve done with Walmart.  The impact it’s had not just on Walmart’s business but on the US retail industry as a whole has been really exciting.  Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but the ripple effects we’ve seen from Walmart’s suppliers and competitors is inspiring. 

We’re starting to see fewer conversations around “why focus on chemicals of concern” and to hear more acknowledgement that it’s worthwhile to innovate in the area of product ingredients.  Product innovation isn’t new, companies are always looking to make things cheaper or to add new features, but I think the need for innovation towards safer chemicals is becoming more obvious.  We’re beginning to see products advertised as free-of certain toxic chemicals, like parabens or phthalates, or bearing certifications based on ingredient safety. We’re also seeing more companies disclose ingredient information online.      

What are the game changers in your world?  

More companies need to commit to make products safer, reduce their chemical footprints, and drive a safer marketplace.  We need to see more public facing, time-bound goals that recognize gaps in business-as-usual, gaps in transparency along the supply chain, and actual health impacts of certain chemicals in the marketplace.  That would really help to cultivate a desire for innovation and creating new solutions that don’t just adhere to the way things have always been done or the traditional definition of what is safe. 

I’d also love to see chemical safety be included in more sustainable business planning and strategy.  There’s a link between chemicals and climate, but right now that discussion isn’t as advanced as the larger climate conversation.  Most of the people working on chemical safety are on Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) teams or Compliance teams which have historically focused on keeping the company’s operations within the law instead of being strategic or innovative.  We’ve made some great strides but we’re not at critical mass yet.   

What was your path to this role? 

I started out in research and development as an engineer working on projects for future products; most of my focus was on water and energy efficiency.  Later, I got more involved in efficient design processes and was working across the organization.  I went to grad school at MIT which helped me return to Whirlpool and work on sustainable products systems and end of life management for products.  I helped my company to develop the foundation for their sustainability program in North America, and then my desire to make a bigger impact brought me to EDF. 

What’s your advice to someone interested in a role like this?

I have a few recommendations for folks interested in a role like this. First, make sure you’re passionate about this space; this will be vital for low days when things feel like they’re not going well or change doesn’t feel like it’s happening fast enough. I also think having some sort of technical background is very beneficial in this type of role. As I mentioned, I am an engineer not a chemist, but my science and analytical background were helpful in ramping up where I needed to. Finally, gain experience in communication and relationship management, even in scenarios that don’t seem directly related to this space. People interaction (written and verbal) is so important to this role, whether you’re setting up a first interaction, debating a sticky point, or influencing a diverse group of stakeholders to take a particular action, sometimes at career levels much higher than your own.

What are your favorite resources? 

Please note that neither Boma Brown-West nor EDF endorse the below organizations.  These resources are shared in the interest of helping our readers to identify sources for learning more about sustainable business practices in green chemistry.   

EDF’s Supply Chain Solutions Center has resources for companies starting their safer chemicals journey. These resources are curated by EDF to help companies understand why tackling chemicals of concern in consumer products is important and how to implement effective elimination strategies.  The Solutions Center is also a great hub for resources tackling the other environmental impacts embedded in product supply chains.

Clean Production Action is committed to disseminating solutions to businesses, government, and NGOs for the advancement of green chemicals and sustainable materials. GreenScreen® is their hazard assessment tool for evaluating the human and environmental hazards of chemicals and it’s helpful for avoiding regrettable substitution.  Their Chemical Footprint Project is an annual benchmarking tool to help companies assess and disclose their efforts to reduce their chemical footprint. A chemical footprint is a lot like a carbon footprint, but it’s a measure of the amount of chemicals of high concern you have in your business, particularly in your products.  They also lead BizNGO which is a collaboration between businesses and environmental leaders to advance healthy materials and a safer chemicals economy. 

Chem Forward recently launched to provide product decision-makers with the chemical safety information they need to incorporate better chemistry into their products. It’s helpful for avoiding regrettable substitution.

CleanGredients does something similar by providing a listing of safer alternative ingredients for cleaning products and helping companies connect with suppliers of those chemicals. It’s an essential resource for companies aiming to gain the EPA Safer Choice certification for their products.

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry developed by John Warner and Paul Anastas is a good starting point for understanding how we can have a world with fewer hazardous ingredients in it. 

Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough presents the importance of material health. 

The Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3) is a collaborative that is driving the adoption of green chemistry practices across the supply chain.  They host events, innovation challenges, and conferences. 

The American Chemical Society hosts a prominent Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference every year. 

Who (or what) is your sustainability hero?  

I admire the unsung sustainability professionals, the ones who don’t frequently get to make speeches on large stages but are critical parts of any company’s or organization’s success. They dig deep into the problems and the possible solutions, and they slog through what we call the “middle miles” of going from commitment to result.