Issues and Positions

The European Green Deal is the EU Commission’s response to environmental-related challenged we are facing globally. By creating chemistry for a sustainable future, our innovations are contributing to the European Union’s ambitions.

The EU Industrial Strategy aims to help Europe’s industry leading the twin transition towards climate neutrality and digital leadership by driving the competitiveness and EU strategic autonomy at a time of moving geopolitical plates and increasing global competition.

The development of international supply chains has benefited developing countries but has also led to negative impacts in terms of human and labor rights as well as environmental damage. Several countries are therefore taking steps to draft due diligence legislation with the goal of ensuring that companies take greater responsibility for human rights in their supply chains.

Sustainable finance refers to the process of taking due account of environmental, social and govern-ance (ESG) considerations when making investment decisions, leading to increased longer-term in-vestments into sustainable economic activities and projects. At EU level it aims at supporting the delivery on the objectives of the European Green Deal by channeling private investment into the in-dustry’s transition as a complement to public money.

The “Paris Agreement” was adopted by nearly 200 countries at the United Nations climate conference in 2015 and was ratified in November 2016. As the first ever legally binding global climate change agreement, it sets out a framework that aims to avoid climate change by limiting global warming. Countries voluntarily commit themselves to national targets in the form of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that are subject to regular review. Developed countries will support developing countries financially to support climate action to reduce emissions and help them adapt to the impact of climate change. 

Energy efficiency compares an output of performance, service, or goods with an input of energy, e.g. the energy needed to heat or cool a house by a certain temperature, or the electricity needed to produce a certain amount of a chemical product. Together with renewable energy, energy efficiency is regarded as an integral part of sustainable energy policy. In its Energy Efficiency 2020 report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that energy efficiency will deliver more than 40% of the reduction in energy-related greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years.

Emission trading systems (ETS) and carbon pricing schemes have been introduced worldwide with the goal of mitigating climate change. The EU emissions trading scheme is a major pillar of EU climate policy that covers both the energy sector and industrial production. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at minimal cost to the economy by issuing a limited number of emission rights and subsequently trading them on the market. In some countries, the transport and building sector are under an ETS as well, e.g. in Germany.

With the Green Deal the European Union strives to make Europe the first climate neutral continent by 2050 and overhaul its environmental laws. One pillar of the Green Deal is a zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment. In this spirit, the EU Commission wants to further strengthen Europe’s already sophisticated chemicals legislation and in 2020 published its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS).

The circular economy, also known as circularity, is a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products, equipment and infrastructure is extended, and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions is minimized. The circular economy is a central element of the European Green Deal.

The mass balance approach is a chain-of-custody model that can be used to ensure traceability in complex supply chains and production processes where it is not possible to physically segregate materials. It is used by several established programs related to sustainable or responsible sourcing, including the chemical industry.

New, resource-efficient solutions and business models are needed to decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources and to transform towards a circular low-emission economy. Supplying a growing global population with food, energy, and clean water, making the best use of limited natural resources, and protecting our climate are among the greatest challenges of our time, and innovations play a pivotal role in addressing these.