Product Sustainability @ Regulatory Summit North America 2025

• Key findings of the Retailer Report Card, the most comprehensive evaluation of corporate policies and practices on hazardous chemicals and plastics
• Insights into how retailers are developing comprehensive safer chemicals policies to restrict harmful chemicals and advance safer solutions
• Recent progress major retailers have taken to reduce and eliminate hazardous chemicals such as PFAS, and plastics of high concern such as PVC
• Examples of major retailers that are not only "banning the bad" but investing in tools to identify and advance safer solutions 

Mike Schade

Senior Director of Programs and Strategy, Toxic-Free Future, United States

• Where states are going on chemical regulation, looking at trends and sectors of interest
• Review consumer polling on chemical regulation
• Case studies of manufacturers and retailers staying ahead of the curve

Gretchen Salter

Policy Director, Safer States

• Overview of EPR in the US including 2025 trends
• Packaging EPR Regulations, in effect and upcoming
• Other consumer product EPR regulations (electronics, mattresses, textiles)

Melanie Rybar

Regulatory and Compliance Analyst, Enhesa Product Intelligence, USA

• How do conflicting federal and state regulations impact companies’ ability to implement consistent product sustainability strategies across North America?
• What legal risks do companies face when navigating overlapping or contradictory federal and state sustainability mandates?
• What trends should companies watch for in the next 3–5 years regarding the balance of power between federal and state sustainability regulation?

Rui Resendes, PhD

Director of Development, Change Chemistry

Stacey Bowers

Global Product Compliance Manager, Enhesa

Gretchen Salter

Policy Director, Safer States

• How the European Green Deal, CSS and SSbD form a cohesive strategy to foster green innovation, drive the EU to a toxic free future and prioritize sustainability considerations as a fundamental design principle
• Highlighting the critical role of supply chain collaboration across industry verticals in the operationalization of this strategy
• Looking beyond compliance to business resilience, shareholder value and contingent risk mitigation

Rui Resendes, PhD

Director of Development, Change Chemistry

• The European Green Deal initiated a wave of legislative initiatives that incorporated the concept of mandatory supply chain due diligence, whereby companies are made liable for violations of international norms on human rights and environmental protection. Similarly, the EU’s CBAM requires EU importers of in-scope goods to report the carbon emissions associated therewith, which in turn requires exporting companies to ensure that they have verified carbon emissions data at their disposal.
• This session addresses this legal paradigm shift in EU regulation and discusses the practical implications thereof on chemical companies operating in the EU or doing business with EU customers.
• Specifically, it discusses the latest legislative developments in respect of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and CBAM including the Omnibus negotiations as well as relevant implementing and delegated acts. The presentation also addresses the implications of the EU Forced Labour Regulation that will start to apply in 2027.

Dylan Geraets

Counsel, Mayer Brown

• An overview of U.S. consumer interest in sustainability certifications and ecolabels, such as products labeled as "sustainable" and whether they sell better.
• The policy landscape for claims, such as the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Green Guides and state laws on "recyclable" and "biodegradable" products.
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as an emerging issue, covering the NGO pressure on certifications to include PFAS-free provisions and how that is impacting brands, including the challenge of analytical methods not having caught up to the identified levels of concern.
• Review the regulatory landscape of state reporting and bans, which could potentially reveal information about the presence of PFAS (or substances that could be defined as PFAS) in products and leave companies open to accusations of greenwashing, if they make a sustainability claim about those products.

Molly Blessing

Vice President of Sustainability & Product Stewardship, Household & Commercial Products Association

• A grounding of the world's most stringent greenwashing laws, including jurisdictions like the European Union (EU), France and Canada.
• Address PFAS regulations globally, such as the EU's recently-enacted Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which aims to improve the circularity, energy performance, recyclability and durability of all products placed on the EU market. It is anticipated that, per the ESPR, products such as textiles will be subject not only to labeling requirements but to restrictions on substances such as azo colorants, formaldehyde and PFAS.
• Draw a line between the EU's current approaches to chemicals in these products and what is likely to come via the ESPR, with a particular focus on PFAS.

Stacey Bowers

Global Product Compliance Manager, Enhesa

• Report on recent litigation in this arena, discussing the potential for a floodgate of new lawsuits given US state requirements that manufacturers report on the presence of PFAS in consumer products, and flag key issues related to these reporting requirements
• The recent dismissal motion filed by Hershey's chocolate company in federal district court over allegations that the company had actively concealed that its products contained or risked containing PFAS. Even if the case is dismissed, Hershey's faces substantial harm from the suit – legal fees and reputational harm from the bad press.  
• The Gore-Tex case, in which plaintiffs alleged that Gore's practices violated the FTC Green Guides and state consumer protection statutes. According to the complaint, plaintiffs purchased garments containing Gore-Tex in reliance on product labeling which led them to believe the products were safe, "consistent with sustainability" and "environmentally sound." However subsequently, plaintiffs believed that they were duped into paying a price-premium for these garments, which they "speculated contain hazardous [PFAS]."

Irene Hantman

Principal, Verdant Law

VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

• LCA as a science based tool for measuring environmental impacts 
• How LCA can be used earlier in the design process to take corrective actions 
• Using LCA and common packaging performance metrics to make holistic decisions 
• Review of the role of LCA in EPR Policy 

Elizabeth Avery

Sustainability Consultant Manager, Trayak, Inc.