Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Sustainable Competitiveness
• Climate Neutrality
• Circularity
• Digitalization
• Resilience
• Safety
• Social Dimension
• Gender Equality
• Diversity

Environmental Achievements

• Greenhouse gas emissions from EU-27 chemical production have decreased by 54% in comparison to 1990 levels, despite a 47% increase in production.

Social Achievements

• Not disclosed

Governance Achievements

• Not disclosed

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Increased international competition
• Skyrocketing prices of energy and feedstock
• Decline in the industry’s global competitiveness
• Shift of certain activities outside the EU
• Reliance on a limited number of suppliers located outside the EU for several chemicals
• Import dependence for supplies of energy, metals, speciality chemicals, and raw materials
• High investment costs preventing SMEs from adopting new environmental technologies
• Lack of finance for SMEs
• Lack of predictability for timelines of new legislative proposals
• Lack of coherence and consistency between EU and national legislation
• Lack of legislative harmonisation across sectors or value chains
• Insufficient access to CO2 pipes and storage for CCU/CCS deployment
• Lengthy and complex implementation processes for new infrastructure
• Limited capacity of SMEs to upskill and reskill their workforce
• Risk of employees leaving SMEs after vocational education
• Lack of skilled workers in technical, digital/IT, R&I, production, logistics, safety, and regulation fields
• Potential job losses and shifts due to the twin transition
• High CAPEX and OPEX for transitioning to low-carbon processes and alternative feedstocks
• Risk of stranded assets due to existing assets not being fully depreciated
• Lack of officially acknowledged chain-of-custody principles
• Limited availability of sustainable primary biomass in the EU
• Competition for biomass resources from other sectors
• Sheer scale of biomass demand
• Barriers to intra-EU cross-border shipments of waste
• Lack of harmonised application of ‘end-of-waste’ criteria
• Price competitiveness of virgin materials compared to recycled materials
• Lack of support for creating post-consumer recycled end-markets
• Outdated support for waste incineration, landfilling, and shipment
• Stringent safety standards requirements for hydrogen infrastructure
• Public protests against large-scale hydrogen infrastructure developments
• Lack of infrastructure around certain industrial sites
• Slow approval procedures for energy and industrial processes

Mitigation Strategies

• Analysis of medium-to-long-term impacts of energy crisis
• Setting key performance indicators and sustainable development indicators
• Global industry initiatives to promote EU environmental and safety standards
• Development of ‘market pull’ measures and incentives
• Strategic foresight exercise focusing on EU open strategic autonomy
• Assessment of the need for strategic stocks of critical raw materials
• Closer international cooperation and coordination
• Ratification of FTAs with dedicated sections on chemicals cooperation
• Integration of the EU’s single market for energy and plastic waste
• Development of a detailed and workable framework and criteria for SSbD
• Use of digital product passports
• Investment in European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH)
• Use of data spaces to improve resource allocation and supply chain resilience
• Promotion of interregional collaboration along sustainable value chains
• Investment in ‘reverse logistics’
• Implementation and enforcement of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)
• Proposals to extend the generic approach to risk management
• Support for the uptake of new business models
• Development of digital infrastructure for data spaces
• Improved assistance from local and regional authorities for SMEs
• Creation of a bespoke chemical SMEs fund
• Communication on funding opportunities
• Increased skills-building at local and regional levels
• Support for SMEs in accessing funding mechanisms
• Development of industrial technology roadmaps
• Publication of additional technology roadmaps on the circular economy
• Development of national roadmaps for a low-carbon or circular chemical sector
• Increased cooperation between research institutions and universities and industry
• Engagement in public-private partnerships
• Development of Chemical Data Spaces
• Appropriate financial and regulatory support between different TRLs
• Co-implementation of the strategic research and innovation plan (SRIP)
• Active involvement of INCITE on emerging processes or techniques
• Assessment of potential for cooperation among future users of low-carbon technologies
• Support for development, commercialisation, deployment, and uptake of new techniques
• Drawing up delegated acts and FAQs to support the Taxonomy Regulation implementation
• Fostering global dialogue and coordination on sustainability taxonomies
• Development of hub structures to increase investment
• Adoption of a transition plan on the conversion or replacement of existing assets
• Facilitation and acceleration of permitting procedures for plant investments
• Support for retrofits and transformation that aim at effective and innovative low-carbon technologies
• Estimation of future needs for energy and alternative feedstock
• Evaluation of the impact of increases in energy prices
• Development of a strategy for the competitive supply of clean energy and strategic raw materials
• Adoption of a social climate fund to support small businesses
• Channeling investments to players committed to the green transition
• Strengthening funding and de-risking measures
• Reassessment of electricity-market rules
• Implementation of the EU solar strategy
• Setting up ‘go-to’ areas for renewables with shortened and simplified permitting processes
• Publication of guidance to Member States on PPAs
• Setting up EU certifications and standards for feedstock
• Setting up risk-sharing facilities to support micro-firms & SMEs
• Introduction of an electricity-price system for industry
• Ensuring diversification of sources and strategic autonomy of the EU
• Setting targets for renewable/non-fossil content
• Harmonising EU and international certification systems for sustainable biomass sourcing
• Assessment of the economic and technical potential of aquatic biomass
• Providing a detailed definition of ‘non-fossil sources’
• Increasing reporting of scope-3 GHG emissions
• Promoting projects on turning alternative sources into valuable feedstock inputs
• Harmonising criteria and methodologies to assess the environmental and socioeconomic performance of bio-based systems
• Accelerating the market deployment of existing circular and bio-based solutions
• Creating a balance and prioritisation between different uses of biomass
• Further improving methodologies to monitor the environmental performance of biomass
• Increasing the efficiency and transparency of biomass supply chains
• Promoting setting targets for recycled and bio-based content
• Suggesting improvements on transparency in the use of ‘substances of concern’
• Advocating for promotion of early international cooperation on standards
• Advocating for chemical recycling as a complementary option
• Increasing the recyclability of products
• Phasing out the most harmful substances from consumer products
• Considering using circular carbon sourced from CO2 as a feedstock
• Supporting the economic and technological development of CO2 as a feedstock
• Considering developing an impact assessment on the CO2 footprint of increased demand for strategic metals
• Considering harmonising the EU regulatory framework for cross-border CO2 transport
• Re-thinking business models
• Supporting the development of advanced and alternative separation technologies
• Promoting industrial symbiosis
• Investing in the development of novel catalysts
• Identifying preliminary hydrogen-infrastructure needs
• Setting up a dedicated workstream on joint, renewable hydrogen purchasing
• Developing an infrastructure outreach programme to non-EU countries
• Abolishing electricity-grid bottlenecks
• Increasing the number of cross-border interconnectors
• Re-dedicating current gas pipelines and refineries
• Constructing new pipelines dedicated to hydrogen infrastructure
• Investing in new harbour-storage capacity
• Supporting and driving investments in dedicated hydrogen grids
• Developing a certification system for the import of low-carbon hydrogen
• Launching pilot projects to develop sustainable infrastructures
• Facilitating and accelerating approval procedures for production plants and products
• Publishing an annual comparative report to identify Member States’ best practices in planning and permitting law
• Supporting investment in rail and inland waterway transport
• Developing a framework for trusted, secure and resilient B2B transport and logistics
• Setting up sustainable and resilient value-chain logistics
• Supporting the development of a multi-modal single European transport area
• Adopting a legislative package on greening freight transport
• Improving reliability, rail punctuality, and rail-infrastructure coordination
• Development of an open data platform data space for chemicals
• Considering drawing up standards for data interoperability and governance
• Providing data on product carbon footprints for chemicals
• Extending partnerships with innovative actors offering digital solutions
• Ensuring the harmonised EU implementation of the Basel Convention
• Increasing the coordination of waste-management infrastructure
• Using the Innovation Fund to support the deployment and upscaling of CCS technologies
• Implementing the Waste Framework Directive and Waste Shipment Regulation
• Enforcing the regulation of illegal imports
• Investing in the management of waste feedstock
• Developing a roadmap for skills
• Setting up sector-specific training
• Identifying and addressing SSbD skills mismatches and skills gaps
• Increasing awareness of the European Digital Innovation Hubs
• Participating in the EU blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills
• Developing a more effective compensation scheme for SMEs
• Contributing to the activities of the European Year of Youth
• Adapting university curricula to industry needs
• Developing and ensuring broad STEM education
• Making use of tools and initiatives under the European Skills Agenda
• Fostering/organising regional training programmes and centres
• Further promoting lifelong learning
• Forecasting and addressing the challenges connected to skills needed to introduce new technologies
• Providing company-based training and reskilling workers
• Providing in-company training opportunities, career paths, and apprenticeships
• Investing in the re-skilling of workers
• Ensuring good communication between company managers and workers
• Providing attractive employment conditions
• Increasing the exposure of young scientists to R&D
• Monitoring and assessing the environmental and economic impact of chemical production
• Informing the public about the impacts and risks linked to the transition
• Conducting a detailed investigation of employment
• Supporting active regional labour market policies
• Continuing to adapt safety protocols before introducing new technologies
• Developing ‘job transition plans’
• Taking business decisions with workers’ representatives involved
• Ensuring social dialogue at company, sectoral and regional/national levels
• Following up on the outcomes of the 2022 report on equal participation of women
• Further implementing the EU gender-equality strategy
• Encouraging women into chemistry and chemical engineering programmes

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Not disclosed

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Not disclosed

Transition Risks

• Not disclosed

Opportunities

• Development of energy-efficient products

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Null

Certifications: Null

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Not disclosed

Awards & Recognition

• Not disclosed