Too big to ignore: Carbon Performance and the $2 trillion chemical sector

Companies in the chemicals sector are major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters but also play a critical role in the low-carbon transition by providing the technologies and materials needed to decarbonise other parts of the economy. The sector is one of the world’s largest manufacturing industries by market capitalisation and the largest industrial consumer of fossil fuels.

During this webinar, we presented our novel approach to assessing the chemicals sector, alongside key findings from the recent assessment of 23 of the largest companies in this sector. 35% of the 23 companies are headquartered in Asia Pacific and 39% are in North America.

The webinar began with a presentation to set out the unique challenges involved in assessing the sector, including:

• Product heterogeneity
• Embodied GHG emissions
• Disconnect between direct emissions and revenue
• Integrated business models

The webinar also explained key decisions regarding sub-sector benchmarks that allow our analysts to closely match company profiles, ensuring more accurate assessments. The panel discussion that followed brought together academic, industry and investor perspectives, which shared their reactions to the assessment results and outlined the barriers and enablers to financing the transition in this unique sector.