On CoP26, Nov. 2021 in line with CoP21, known as Paris Agreement, all countries worldwide committed to more ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. As required by the agreement, the EU submitted its long-term emission reduction strategy and its updated climate plans before the end of 2020, pledging to reduce EU emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
It recognizes the need for all EU actions and policies to play a role in achieving climate neutrality. It also outlines a roadmap for legislative and non-legislative initiatives to help the EU attain this goal. These actions concern industry, transport and mobility, energy, and finance sectors.
The risk of greenwashing is increasing, and the probability of corruption in reporting is a concern at different levels of decision-making. There are many initiatives that regulate the low-carbon market to meet Net Zero by 2050, from Paris Agreement in CoP21, 2015, to CoP26 in Glasgow, 2021, and the European Green Deal (EGD) and a Just Transition Mechanism.
The petrochemical industry is a globally recognized industry with great potential for growth according to IEA 2018 report. The petrochemical industry currently serves as the building block of virtually all other high-end industries such as agriculture, electronics, automotive, and pharmaceuticals. As Statista reveals the global petrochemical industry had a market value of $556bn in 2021. It has a potential market value of $1T by 2030.
Petrochemical products are everywhere in plastics, fertilizers, packaging, clothing, digital devices, medical equipment, detergents, tires and many others, while modern energy systems also include petrochemicals, such as solar panels, wind turbine blades, batteries, thermal insulation for buildings, electric vehicle parts.
According to World Resources Institute (WRI), about 6.1% of global emissions are from the Chemical and petrochemical industries. Our World in Data reveals that 3.6% of global emissions are from energy use in the chemical industry. As a result, chemical and petrochemical industries contribute nearly 10% of global emissions.
