Chemicals sector could create 29 million jobs in net-zero transition, report finds

The global chemicals sector is not yet taking action to cut its climate footprint or prepare for climate risks – despite the fact that doing so could create millions of new jobs. That is the conclusion of a new report jointly authored by Systemiq and the University of Toyko’s Centre for Global Commons.

The ‘Planet-Positive Chemicals’ report highlights how, at present, the sector is operating in line with a climate trajectory of up to 4C of warming by 2100 on pre-industrial levels. This is far from compatible with the Paris Agreement. Less than one in five large chemistry firms have set science-based climate targets and almost all of the feedstocks used by the sector – 98% – were fossil-fuel-based in 2021, the report states. This proportion would need to drop to 18% by 2050 in a net-zero scenario according to the report.

Acknowledged in the report are the multiple challenges to decarbonising the sector at scale and pace, including poor policy support in some geographies and the fact that some key technologies such as low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture are still maturing.