Planning for employment effects of climate change in the chemicals and chemical products sub-sector

The document analyzes how biophysical climate impacts and international trade shifts threaten employment in South Africa's chemicals sub-sector, while identifying job creation potential through mitigation and adaptation interventions.

• By 2030, climate change is estimated to cause 3,000 job losses in South Africa's chemicals and chemical products sub-sector due to biophysical impacts, with an additional 11,400 losses resulting from changes in international trade.
• Biophysical risks to employment include extreme weather affecting raw material availability (oil, natural gas, water, metals, and minerals), increased production costs from rising temperatures, and disruptions to supply chains caused by floods and droughts.
• International trade poses a significant risk because the sub-sector exports carbon-intensive products; if trading partners reduce imports to lower their own carbon footprints, South African exports and production will decline.
• The impact of international trade on jobs varies by scenario: a 'no emissions trading' scenario predicts a decrease of 10,000 to 11,400 jobs by 2030, whereas allowing for emissions trading reduces this to 174 job losses by 2030.
• Mitigation and adaptation interventions are expected to create new employment: mitigation efforts are projected to create 650 jobs, while adaptation interventions are expected to create 3,825 jobs by 2030.
• Specific mitigation job opportunities include renovating plants for energy efficiency (254 jobs) and the construction and operation of combined heat and power facilities (176 jobs).
• Increased demand for specific chemical products used to cope with climate change could drive employment growth, specifically in water treatment chemicals, healthcare pharmaceuticals, greener chemicals, and fire retardants.
• Barriers to re-employment for displaced workers include inadequate skills and training, limited willingness or means to relocate, lack of support for entrepreneurship, and low awareness of new opportunities.

APA

Arp, R., & Naudé, L. (2018). Planning for employment effects of climate change in the chemicals and chemical products sub-sector. WWF South Africa. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_2018_planning_for_employment_effects_of_cc_in_chemical_sector.pdf

Chicago

Arp, Reinhardt, and Louise Naudé. Planning for employment effects of climate change in the chemicals and chemical products sub-sector. WWF South Africa, 2018. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_2018_planning_for_employment_effects_of_cc_in_chemical_sector.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Arp |first1=Reinhardt |last2=Naudé |first2=Louise |title=Planning for employment effects of climate change in the chemicals and chemical products sub-sector |publisher=WWF South Africa |date=2018 |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_2018_planning_for_employment_effects_of_cc_in_chemical_sector.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{arp2018planning, author = {Arp, Reinhardt and Naudé, Louise}, title = {{Planning for employment effects of climate change in the chemicals and chemical products sub-sector}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2018}, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_2018_planning_for_employment_effects_of_cc_in_chemical_sector.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }