Climate and energy
The global chemistry industry is a critical part of the climate change solution.
Our industry supplies many of the inputs, technologies and solutions needed to reduce emissions, as evidenced by the ICCA report Enabling the Future – chemistry innovations for a low carbon society.
In Australia, our industry will enable the transition to a lower-emissions future through the supply of emerging and future technologies that will drive Australia’s transformation to climate neutrality, including:
- Hydrogen and other alternative fuels
- Lower emission ammonia
- Batteries and energy storage
- Recycled polymers
- Harnessing waste CO2 as a raw material
- Insulation and other energy efficient solutions for homes and the built environment
- Lightweight, energy-saving materials for vehicles and transport
Our industry is committed to delivering significant emissions reduction and supporting a circular economy through process and technology changes, including:
- advanced recycling
- combined heat and power
- carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and
- electric steam crackers
Examples of our members’ commitment to reducing emissions and contribution to a circular economy can be found in a recent announcement from our Industry Awards.
Industry initiatives
The safety of workers and communities, and the protection of the environment, are the highest priorities of our association and our members.
As such, the industry celebrates our members’ achievements at our annual Chemistry Australia Industry Awards in the areas of:
- Net Zero Transition
- Health, Safety and Environment, and
- Circular Economy
Please visit our Awards page for more information.
Chemistry Australia and its members have committed to establishing industry, health, safety and environment targets, which we’ll share with stakeholders through our annual Health and Safety reporting.
Policy environment
We believe Australia’s actions to achieve climate neutrality should be part of globally coordinated efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
These actions should also strike the right balance between meeting our Paris Agreement commitments and ensuring continued industry investment and jobs growth to underpin Australia’s sovereign capability.
More information about our Policy Positions can be found on our policy positions pages.
Competitive, low emissions energy
Chemistry Australia members will play an important role in solving Australia’s sustainability challenges through the supply of products and technologies to reduce emissions and establish a circular economy in Australia.
However, none of this can be achieved unless Australian industry has access to globally competitive inputs, such as energy.
More specifically, affordable gas and gas feedstocks, such as methane and ethane, will be necessary for Australia to meet its decarbonisation and sustainability objectives.
Affordable gas and gas feedstocks are essential for continued investment in Australia’s domestic manufacturing industries, which will be key to the delivery of decarbonisation solutions such as hydrogen and green ammonia.
Access to reliable, affordable energy supplies will also help ensure the Australian chemistry industry can continue to deliver $38 billion to the economy and support 212,000 direct and indirect jobs.
More information about our policy recommendations is available on our Policy Priorities pages.
