A method of identifying a substitute chemical includes receiving, at a computer, a trial set of properties that describes a function in a desired chemical process of a chemical for substitution, performing a distributed search using objective similarity criteria based on the trial set of properties to identify a first set of candidate chemicals, prioritizing the first set of candidate chemicals into a second set of candidate chemicals, determining Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) data parameter values for each chemical of the second set of candidate chemicals, normalizing disparate EHS data parameter values into associated EHS properties, prioritizing the second set of candidate chemicals into a third set of candidate chemicals, and prioritizing the third set of candidate chemicals into a fourth set of candidate chemicals according to the risk posed by the desired chemical process.