Clean Energy 101: The Chemicals and Climate Connection

The chemicals industry accounts for 4% to 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a level comparable to the steel industry. While chemicals are essential for 96% of manufactured goods and over 75% of emission reduction technologies, their production relies heavily on fossil fuel feedstocks and energy-intensive processes. RMI advocates for a systems approach to decarbonization focusing on reducing petrochemical demand through circular economy principles, improving process and energy efficiency via renewables and hydrogen, and transitioning to defossilized feedstocks to avoid over-reliance on carbon capture and storage (CCS).

• The chemicals industry is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing between 4 percent and 6 percent of global totals, which is a scale similar to that of the steel industry.
• Chemicals are critical to both general manufacturing and the energy transition, appearing in 96 percent of manufactured goods and supporting more than 75 percent of technologies used to reduce emissions, such as refrigerants for heat pumps and ethylene vinyl acetate for solar panels.
• Decarbonizing the sector is complex because emissions occur across the entire supply chain—including production, use, and disposal—and production volumes are projected to grow by 2050.
• RMI identifies three primary levers for reducing the industry's climate impact: reducing petrochemical demand through circular economy and reuse strategies, increasing process and energy efficiency using hydrogen and renewables, and adopting alternative, defossilized feedstocks.
• There is a risk that industry incumbents will prioritize investments in existing fossil fuel feedstocks and carbon capture and storage (CCS) over renewable-sourced alternatives if optimal paths are not defined and invested in immediately.

APA

RMI (2024). Clean Energy 101: The Chemicals and Climate Connection. https://rmi.org/resources/clean-energy-101-the-chemicals-and-climate-connection/

Chicago

RMI. Clean Energy 101: The Chemicals and Climate Connection. 2024. https://rmi.org/resources/clean-energy-101-the-chemicals-and-climate-connection/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Clean Energy 101: The Chemicals and Climate Connection |date=25 July 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/clean-energy-101-the-chemicals-and-climate-connection/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2024clean, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Clean Energy 101: The Chemicals and Climate Connection}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/clean-energy-101-the-chemicals-and-climate-connection/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }