A milestone moment for the European chemicals industry: The EU Chemical Industry Transition Pathway helps define the sector’s path to 2050

27 January, 2023, Brussels – Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, hails the publication of the EU Chemical Industry Transition Pathway released today by the European Commission as a first-of-a-kind report offering European industry a roadmap towards the EU Green Deal goals.

The European chemical industry has long been asking for a dedicated roadmap to support the biggest transformation in its history; by 2050 the EU chemicals sector will need to become climate neutral, circular, digitalise its processes and transition to safe and sustainable chemicals. All these actions require tens of billions of additional investments between now and 2050. And this all needs to happen in a very tense geopolitical environment.

Cefic President Martin Brudermüller: “Today an important milestone is reached on the exciting but challenging journey for our sector towards meeting the European Green Deal goals. The EU chemicals industry is already in execution of its transformation, but we need clarity, perspectives and direction on how to get there. The Transition Pathway provides our industry with more clarity on ‘the how’ and ‘the when’. The successful implementation will help to define the future of our industry in Europe for the coming decades and we stand ready to work with the European Commission, the Member State governments and the European Parliament to do our share to make this happen.”

The Transition Pathway lays out nearly 200 concrete actions to take for EU institutions, Member States and industry in order to make the transformation happen. This should help provide reassurance to industry that Europe is the place to put their investments.

The EU chemical industry supports the European Green Deal and has the ambition to become climate neutral by 2050. The chemicals industry provides almost 1.2 million direct jobs across Europe and plays a vital role in offering solutions for the achievement of the EU Green Deal. For example, chemicals are key components for electric batteries to extend the range of electric vehicles, insulation panels and coatings which reduce energy consumption in buildings, and composite materials for wind turbine blades, as well as many other important functionalities.