Defossilization of the chemical industry
Climate change poses major challenges for the chemical industry, as its production is largely based on fossil resources such as crude oil or natural gas. These fossil resources primarily serve as sources of energy and carbon for the production of chemicals and plastics.
Chemicals and plastics, in turn, are important raw materials for everyday products such as food packaging, sportswear, and cosmetics. However, the current production based on fossil resources results in high greenhouse gas emissions during manufacturing and disposal, contributing to climate change. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the future, it is necessary, among other measures, to analyze alternative non-fossil carbon-based feedstocks for the chemical industry.
The present carbon analysis examines the demand for and availability of alternative carbon sources such as plastic waste, biomass, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) in order to analyze defossilization options for Austria’s carbon-based chemical industry. The focus is on substituting carbon-based basic chemicals, which are largely used in the production of plastics. The carbon analysis of the Austrian chemical industry provides a comprehensive overview of the availability of alternative feedstocks and their potential to replace fossil resources in a future chemical industry. To deepen the insights gained and derive concrete measures—such as investments in new technologies or infrastructure—more detailed analyses of the entire life cycle of the chemical value chain are required.
Study: Carbon analysis of Austrian basic chemicals (in German only)