Seven European Union countries, including Italy and Spain, have joined France in calling for a “Critical Chemicals Act” to protect Europe’s struggling chemicals sector, POLITICO reports.
The call comes on the heels of an initial French proposal, received by POLITICO last month, which called for the European Union to declare some 15 key chemical compounds “strategic.”
The idea is to protect the sector and ensure Europe is self-sufficient in chemicals used in everything from fertiliser production to plastics, emulating similar rules for critical raw materials and medicines – the latest of which the European Commission unveiled on Tuesday.
The Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary also backed the latest chemicals proposal. Germany, the EU’s biggest chemicals producer, has not signed up.
The latest proposal, first reported by POLITICO on Tuesday, adds several more “strategic molecules” to the previous list, including toluene and xylene. Phenol and styrene also made the list as key substances for a range of industries, from pharmaceuticals and adhesives to plastics and detergents.
“Low carbon footprint molecules, that can characterize sustainable chemicals and substitute any of the above strategic molecules … should also be considered strategic,” the text suggests. It acknowledges, though, that since those molecules are still in “early stages of research and development, it remains difficult to foresee which ones will be the fossil-free molecules of the future” and, as such, EU support “should not be restricted to specific alternative molecules.”
The new proposal provides a “preliminary” list of bio-based molecules that could replace fossil fuels, including glycerol and bio-based ethanol.
Countries say investment in biofuels, plastic recycling, bioplastics and chemical chains would be a “strategic” move. The proposal was put forward by EU member state ministers at a meeting of the Competitiveness Council on Wednesday.
