Speeding up the chemical industry’s transition to a sustainable future: Cefic Launches Its 2022 Sustainability Progress Report
The European chemical industry supports the European Green Deal. It has the ambition to become climate neutral by 2050 and is uniquely positioned at the heart of European manufacturing to contribute to realizing a climate neutral society.
The 2O22 Sustainability Progress report details the steps the industry is taking to advance towards a sustainable future and achieving the 2050 goals. It assesses the industry’s progress made in reducing GHG and other emissions from operations, improving energy consumption and waste recovery, use of alternative feedstock, and operational safety.
It highlights the development of tools and instruments to accelerate progress and support the green and digital transition: a comprehensive list of Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs) reflects the European chemical sector’s efforts towards achieving a safe, resource-efficient, circular economy in a climate-neutral Europe. This aligns with the core objectives of the EU Green Deal and is crucial for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The most recent inclusion to this set of indicators is economic competitiveness, which is needed for a healthy business environment, it creates new jobs and generates investments into research and innovation.
Other instruments such as guiding design principles for a selected set of safety and sustainability dimensions at the product-application level are also featured at the report. Additionally, the document presents a long-term, comprehensive vision for sustainable carbon cycles that is currently under development.
According to Ann Dierckx, “the next challenge is to focus more on sustainable carbon feedstocks, since closing the carbon loop is crucial for the climate-neutral transition of the chemical sector towards 2050”.
We will continue onwards with these trends, opening our doors to exchange with others.