American Chemistry Council Touts Industry Sustainability Progress in Inaugural Report

The launch of the report coincides with ACC’s annual Responsible Care and Sustainability conference taking place this week in Miami. The report's publication also comes at a point where ACC feels that overregulation is obstructing the industry’s ability to deliver sustainable solutions, Toomey said.

There’s an underlying “underappreciation of all the work industry has done and an assumption that the industry has done nothing,” said Toomey, speaking from the Responsible Care conference in Miami.

The report includes a call to action for all partners, including government, the value chain and advocacy organizations to accelerate access to feedstocks, energy and other critical resources to enable the transition toward sustainable solutions.

Recent EPA regulations targeting the chemical industry have not been consistent with government programs, like the Inflation Reduction Act, aimed at incentivizing sustainable investment, Toomey said.

“The fact is, you can’t fight climate change without chemistry,” said ACC President Chris Jahn in the report summary.

He noted that chemistry is critical in the development of renewable energy solutions like solar panels and wind turbines and advanced battery storage.

“These are the products that will build our future, and you need chemistry for every one of them,” Jahn said. “And we also need the right policies and the right infrastructure in place to make this possible.”