Titled Blackbox Chemical Industry: Germany’s most energy-intensive industry, the German environmental association BUND (Berlin; www.bund.net) has published an industry portrait on German chemical companies with their approximately 2,000 chemical and petrochemical plants, their products, and their consumption of resources. In the study, the association describes in detail where in Germany which (petro)chemical products are produced and in what quantities – and attempts to allocate the individual products and quantities to their respective consumptions of resources and energy. 

The bottom line, according to BUND, is: “The chemical industry is the largest consumer of fossil raw materials in Germany. The German chemical giants consume the most oil and gas nationwide.” Thus, the association concludes, the chemical industry is “the main driver of the resource crisis” and has “a decisive share in the climate crisis”. 

Related: Geopolitical risks remain for critical materials supply chains

The foreword of the study states, “The pollution with plastic, PFAS and co. endangers our Earth’s ecosystem and thus the basis of mankind’s existence. (...) The constant increase in production and thus in the use of raw materials, the movement of goods and waste overtaxes the earth’s ability to regenerate, and leads toward an ecological disaster.” Therefore, BUND emphasises that it is important to “produce less overall” and demands, “Wherever possible, the use and therefore the production of chemicals should be reconsidered.”