Helsinki Chemicals Forum 2024: Will the EU’s ‘transition pathways’ pave the way forward for industry?

It has been long realised that our current economic and industrial patterns are unsustainable. High-level international organisations, including the UN and World Economic Forum, have been spreading the message for decades that "business as usual" is no longer a viable option.

As we enter a critical point in time in terms of the environment, economy and geopolitical tensions, the message is resonating. Current economic turbulence is meeting environmental crises head on. Hence policy makers around the world are looking for ways to grow their economies in both a competitive and sustainable way. Europe has been particularly active in this regard and developed what it calls ‘transition pathways’ for European industry.

These pathways or ‘blueprints’ aim to establish resilience and competitiveness for the sector, at the same time ensuring that business activities help the bloc meet objectives under its green and industrial strategies. This includes the chemicals strategy for sustainability, which has brought a swathe of new actions to regulate the most harmful chemicals.

A panel at this year’s Helsinki Chemicals Forum will delve into the answers the pathways provide to questions concerning how industrial sectors can achieve the EU’s environmental and other objectives.

The Commission’s plans cover several areas that must be addressed to make the transition possible. These include:

• infrastructure;
• investments and funding;
• regulation and public governance;
• research and innovation, techniques and technological solutions;
• skills;
• social dimension; and
• sustainable competitiveness.

A number of pathways have been launched, including one for the chemicals sector. More sector specific pathways are on the way.

Sylvie Lemoine, chemicals trade body Cefic’s deputy director general, who will be on the panel, told Chemical Watch News & Insight that many initiatives have been triggered by the Green Deal under the current European Commission, including more than 85 actions relating to the chemicals strategy for sustainability.

She said that while high ambition is welcome, an action-oriented roadmap is needed. The transition pathways are important, Dr Lemoine said, because people are "losing the sense of direction – it is just too much", referring to the sheer number of policies being adopted by European authorities.

"In Europe, we're facing the most severe downturn in a decade or so," she said. Therefore, making this transition and achieving all the goals set out will require better enforcement of legislation, technological advancements, as well as a huge increase in investment and education.

The chemicals sector pathway sets out ways to support the re- and upskilling of the chemical workforce. This includes:

• setting up sector-specific training, including on green and sustainable chemistry, chemicals regulation and safety; and
• adapting university curricula to industry needs, with courses on regulation, sustainable and green chemistry, and the principles of safe and sustainable by design (SSbD), offered in chemistry programmes.

"We need to integrate sustainability into the university curricula, for the younger generation, who are going to design the products of tomorrow," she said, particularly with the advancements in predictive toxicology and generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Dr Lemoine added that safety, potential toxicity, how a substance will be produced and with which source of energy must all be considered when designing a new chemical.

Investment

Realising all the ambitions of the transition pathways will require a major financial commitment.

Achieving just one environmental objective – climate neutrality – will require investment six times higher than today’s levels, said Dr Lemoine. This is particularly concerning for the chemicals industry which, according to the latest figures by Cefic, lost 11% production from 2022 to 2023.

However, 2022 also saw the highest levels of spending by industry on research and innovation, reaching €11bn. "This is encouraging and reflects awareness that we need to innovate and there is a willingness to spend the money when possible," she said.

Metals sector

While the chemicals industry pathway was launched in January last year, a sector close to it – the metals sector – is expecting its own roadmap in the next few months.

Simon Cook, chemicals management adviser, Eurometaux, who will also be speaking on the panel, said he would like to see a medium- to long-term vision for the industry with a "fresh approach that transcends policy silos and encompasses various areas, from decarbonisation to energy and circularity policies". 

"An effective co-creation process, founded on dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, will be crucial to produce a pathway that can be put into practice," he added.

The metals sector, he said, has the ambition to supply more of the metals that Europe will need for its batteries, renewable energy technologies and grids – at the same time as decarbonising its processes, achieving greater levels of recycling and continually lowering its environmental footprint.

"The EU sector is the ‘material steward’ for entire (global) value chains to ensure that metals are produced, sourced, used and recycled responsibly, ethically, safely and sustainably," said Cook. 

However, he acknowledges that some metals underpinning the twin transition have hazardous properties. "Though these are used safely, and today have no substitutes," he added. 

The Commission said that each "industrial ecosystem" must transform its business models and value chains to become the "foundation of a green, digital and resilient European economy". But such transitions require concrete and actionable plans. Will the EU’s transition pathways have the desired effect? Time will tell.