Chemicals industry seeks shift to net-zero and circular economy

BY NEIL EISBERG

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), in collaboration with nine leading chemical companies and sustainability consultant ERM, has drawn up roadmap with the aim of driving transformative change across the chemical industry and downstream manufacturing value chains: Towards Planet Positive Chemicals; A chemical transformation roadmap enabled by the circular economy.

The WBCSD believes the chemical industry and downstream manufacturing value chains ‘must transition towards just, net-zero and nature-positive chemicals by 2050. This is necessary to contribute to restoring the safe operating conditions of Earth’s biosphere and crucial to maintaining the industry’s social license to operate’.

The roadmap uses a systems approach and looks at value chains holistically, laying out the transformation required around six pathways and associated near-term actions. There are three imperatives: commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all scopes (1,2 and 3) by 2025; halt and reverse the impact of chemicals on nature loss by 2030, with full recovery by 20250; and create transformative solutions that prioritise equity and wellbeing for workers, users and affected communities across the entire value chain by 2050.

These imperatives are supported by three enablers: the creation of regulatory, financial and business conditions necessary for decoupling value creation from resource consumption and accelerating the development of circular products and business models for chemicals; leveraging sustainable chemistry innovations to drive solutions to climate, nature, safety and equity challenges; implementing robust frameworks to address pollution throughout the value chain.

Commenting on the roadmap, WBCSD Executive VP Diane Holdorf said: ‘This aligned industry roadmap is a critical milestone for the chemical industry and manufacturing sectors relying on chemicals. It provides actionable pathways and identifies priorities for collaboration, which will transition value chains, secure long-term business resilience and deliver the solutions required to build a more sustainable and equitable future.’

Meanwhile, the WBCSD has also launched a toolkit designed to accelerate investment in low-carbon hydrogen offtake, something that is likely to play a critical role in the decarbonisation of industry. The toolkit is said to offer corporate leaders practical guidance in managing complex decision-making and investment around the adoption of low-carbon hydrogen.

According to the International Energy Agency annual production of low-cost hydrogen could exceed 20m t by 2030, however, the WBCSD believes projects are not proceeding at the scale and speed needed to drive deep industrial decarbonisation. ‘Only 10% of the clean hydrogen capacity planned by 2030 has a buyer’.