Most of the industry’s direct carbon dioxide emissions come from burning fossil fuels to power chemical transformations, many of which take place at high temperatures and pressures. One way to lower emissions is to focus on chemical plants – improving efficiency and switching to low-carbon energy. Yet the chemicals industry is finding itself increasingly under scrutiny – both from nations that need to meet ambitious emissions reduction targets and from researchers, scientists and campaigners calling on the industry to cut its polluting products. “They’ve become a bit of an untouchable sector for many politicians,” said Jan-Justus Andreas, who leads industrial policy at the Norwegian environmental non-profit Bellona Europa.
DIGITAL ATMOSPHERE RADAR PLUS
Plus this large, complex industry, which supports millions of jobs worldwide, has significant political and economic clout. Lowering the industry’s emissions is possible but technically daunting. The rest is used as feedstock for products such as plastics with the emissions released only when these products reach the end of their lives, for example, when waste plastic packaging or an old mattress is incinerated. The chemicals sector is the largest industrial user of oil and gas but it has the third-largest carbon footprint – behind steel and cement – because only about half of the fossil fuels that the industry consumes are burned for their energy. They’ve become a bit of an untouchable sector for many politicians Jan-Justus Andreas The International Energy Agency predicted that petrochemicals could account for 60% of oil demand in the next decade. Oil companies have been betting on chemicals as a way to remain profitable as the world pledges to turn away from fossil fuel energy. While the industry has an important role to play in moving to low-carbon economies – providing coatings for solar panels, lightweight plastics to reduce vehicles’ energy consumption and insulating materials for buildings – it’s also hugely carbon intensive and predicted to become more so.
This sprawling industry produces a huge range of products, many of which support other industries – pesticides for agriculture, acids for mining, lubricants for machinery, ingredients in cleaning agents, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and plastics.
0 kommentar(er)
