Chemicals
With the global chemical sales totaling around $4 trillion and providing essential materials for 95% of all manufactured goods worldwide, it is imperative for the chemicals sector to take actions to ensure it contributes to a nature-positive and net zero future.
Chemicals are essential in our daily life and in nearly all industrial processes. Chemical-based fertilizers feed our population and ensure food security; specialty chemicals such as catalysts are essential to manufacture lifesaving drugs; and applications of chemicals such as in insulation of houses help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the sector contributes to drivers of biodiversity loss such as pollution, carbon emission, freshwater use, and land conversion across its value chain stages. Like other sectors, the chemical sector is also dependent on environmental assets and ecosystem services to function and grow, such as water supply, biomass and mineral and energy resources.
The sector actions serve as a guide to transform business practices and value chains and ensure the chemical sector plays its part in halting and reversing nature loss by 2030 - the mission at the heart of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
The overview and report were led by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Oliver Wyman.
Scroll down to access additional resources, including the sector overview in Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish.
Impacts on nature
Chemicals companies should direct their efforts towards addressing the most significant impacts on nature in their operations and value chains, namely:
Pollution and pollution run-off
Water use
Greenhouse gas emissions
Land use change
Dependencies on nature
The chemicals sector depends on environmental assets and ecosystem services to function and grow. Companies rely heavily on:
Freshwater
Biomass provisioning
Mineral and energy resources
