Defossilising chemicals: What is needed and what is being done?

Defossilising chemicals was this week the focus of a new report from the Royal Society. Three members of the Royal Society of Chemistry staff contributed to the development workshops and Anju Massey-Brooker of our Enterprise Impact programme spoke at the launch. The report marks the latest effort to draw attention to the need for alternative feedstocks and follows on from some of our other work in this field.

Carbon-based chemicals are vital to everyday life, just think of all the plastics in our homes, vehicles and workplaces. The demand for these chemicals is expected to double by 2050 as more people around the world improve their living standards.

Unfortunately, the vast majority are derived from fossil fuels, which provide both the energy to drive manufacturing and the carbon atoms to build the molecules we use. To reach net zero and stabilise the climate then we will need to switch to alternatives sources of carbon for materials as well as energy; we will need to defossilise the chemicals industry.

The new Royal Society report is the culmination of months of work of many in the chemical science community and beyond, and acknowledges some of the challenges we face.

Plant-based feedstocks (biomass), waste plastics and captured carbon dioxide are all viable alternatives with significant potential to reduce the climate impact of the chemicals sector.

However, each alternative creates the risk of different environmental or social harms so a transition must be carefully managed. This means there will not be a single ideal mix of carbon sources; different places and sectors will find different feedstocks work best for them.

Defossilising chemicals will be a complex, long-term challenge requiring scientific, economic and policy coordination. At the RSC, we have already started taking proactive steps, as can be seen below, and will continue to work with the chemical science community to make the world a better place. 

Polymers in liquid formulations

Polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs) are a major class of chemicals currently made from fossil fuels.

The RSC has launched a roadmap to transition the PLF industry towards sustainable practices. It drew on the expertise of a cross-industry task force and thought leaders from the wider research, policy and regulatory ecosystem.  

The roadmap highlights that to address this system-level challenge will require unprecedented industrial collaboration on a pre-commercial basis and at a scale that goes beyond conventional firm-level open innovation practices. This kind of common-interest innovation model could in turn provide a platform for faster and more effective firm-level innovation and value creation. 

Chemicals regulation

Chemicals regulation is a significant potential enabler or barrier to innovation in processes and feedstocks.

The new UN Global Framework on Chemicals, may provide a useful platform to discuss the necessary changes in chemicals policy on the world stage, and achieve a just transition in the chemicals sector.

The new UN science-policy panel for chemicals, waste and pollution, which the RSC has campaigned for over a number of years, will help to create links to the climate change agenda at the UN. 

Watch this Royal Society video:

Why we need to defossilise our chemicals