The chemical industry achieves sustainable development through resource conservation

"As an industrialized country on the road of sustainable development - there can be no successful social and ecological transformation without energy transformation", under this title, Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister of environment, praised the importance of sustainable development of chemical industry. But what does that mean?

Sustainability is not a recent topic in the chemical industry, but it makes more sense now than ever. The chemical industry is the third largest industry in Germany. It is at the starting point of each value chain and closely connected with other industries. The products and fragments of the chemical industry can be found in almost every aspect of our daily life, whether it's the clothes we wear, the mobile phones we hold, or the cars we drive. In addition, the chemical industry has contributed greatly to the success of the German economy, thus ensuring qualified jobs.

At the same time, consumers, in particular, are setting new priorities. People pay more attention to sustainability and their own ecological footprints. Through continuous optimization of production process and improvement of environmental protection technology, the chemical industry has been able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide by about half compared with 1990. But in order to achieve complete zero carbon dioxide emissions, it is necessary to carry out a fundamental transformation of the industry.

The chemical industry depends on transparency

For some time, the chemical industry has been dominated by the trend of digitization and circular economy. Especially in recent months, after the covid-19 pandemic, the need and benefits of digitization have been established. This is also shown in the study of trends in the use of artificial intelligence "learning artificial intelligence in Germany". The novel coronavirus pneumonia, which is launched by Bitkom Research, defines AI as a key technology related to competitiveness in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and refers to the frequently cited "digitalization of the epidemic through the new crown pneumonia".

With the continuous advancement of digital chemical industry, the topic of transparency and sustainability is more and more closely related to society. The society's increasing acceptance of innovative processes has created great opportunities for the transformation of the chemical industry.

A study by the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) in collaboration with Deloitte Consulting also shows this. It analyzes the recent transformation of the chemical industry, focusing on Digitization and sustainability. "The chemical and pharmaceutical industries have long understood sustainability as an obligation to present and future generations, as well as a future strategy for economic success linked to social justice and ecological responsibility," the German Chemical Industry Association said

Together for Sustainability: a sustainable value chain

When it comes to downstream industries and end markets, the innovation of the chemical industry is often in a leading position. Therefore, it is particularly important that companies from the chemical sector set a good example to make their processes sustainable.

In fact, the value chain is highly complex. In the digital process, the supply chain network has also been improved. The existing products are being digitized, and the linear value chain is developing into a network. In addition, there are requirements for social transparency and sustainability.

In order to improve the sustainability of the value chain, leading chemical enterprises launched the TFs initiative 10 years ago. The mission of founding members BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Henkel, Langsheng and Solvay is to develop and implement a global project to assess, monitor and improve the sustainability practices of the chemical industry supply chain. TFs has now become the industry standard for sustainable supply chain cooperation, and its membership has increased to 20 companies from Europe and the United States. Transparency and sustainability of the supply chain also contribute to the social acceptance of the chemical industry and its products.

Realize sustainable development by saving resources

In many industrial sectors, resource conservation and ecological footprint are playing an increasingly important role as sustainability indicators. Many companies in the chemical industry are incorporating circular economy into their production processes to improve sustainability. Recycling and resource conservation management should go beyond recycling and give an opportunity for environmentally friendly innovation. Sustainable processes consume the least resources. In this case, energy efficiency can be continuously improved by processes operating at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, for example, through the use of catalysts.

Article source: https://article-realm.com/article/Finance/12674-The-chemical-industry-achieves-sustainable-development-through-resource-conservation.html