Do we like them?

Do we like 3M?

Makes industrial, safety, health-care and consumer products (Post-it, Scotch tape, N95 masks); based in Minnesota, US.

Our score: 4 out of 10. Useful products and a promised PFAS exit, but we'd hold back. The company has paid billions over forever chemicals and faulty earplugs, and more PFAS suits are pending.

3M is the Minnesota maker behind Post-it notes, Scotch tape and masks. It's a huge listed industrial company. Bill Brown, formerly of L3Harris, took over as CEO from Michael Roman in May 2024, and Roman became executive chairman.

The big drama is PFAS, the 'forever chemicals'. In 2023 3M agreed to pay up to $10.3 billion over 13 years to settle claims that it contaminated public water supplies. It said this was not an admission of liability.

There's more. In 2018 it paid Minnesota $850 million over water contamination. In 2025 it agreed to pay New Jersey $450 million over 25 years. Many individual cases are still going.

It also agreed to settle US veterans' hearing-loss lawsuits over its combat earplugs for $6 billion, part cash and part stock. Brown said 3M would exit all PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025. That's a step in the right direction, but it comes after the damage. Hence a lowish score.