Sustainability is a business imperative for the chemical industry – a key component of a company’s strategy for resilience, financial success, and ability to thrive and grow in a changing world.
Business Case for Sustainability in the Chemical Industry
What is a sustainable business?
“Sustainability” can be defined in many ways. A sustainable chemical business is one that can operate profitably, efficiently and safely over the long term, even amid evolving consumer demands and economic uncertainty. It does this by delivering essential products that society depends on, while managing resources and risk wisely, minimizing environmental impact, promoting safer operations and investing in innovation.
Efficiency-driven initiatives
Reducing energy consumption, curbing emissions, optimizing water consumption and reducing waste can create real, measurable, financial value for chemical companies. Such initiatives can help companies drive efficiency, reduce costs and strengthen their competitive edge.
Achieving national priorities
Across the United States, sustainable chemical manufacturing helps achieve national priorities, by advancing energy security, competitiveness and supply chain resilience:
- Sustainable manufacturing helps advance U.S. energy security by supporting domestic production of critical materials and technologies that drive a reliable, resilient energy infrastructure.
- It enhances America’s competitive edge, by enabling companies to lead in global markets through safer, cleaner, more efficient operations.
- It reduces dependence on volatile global supply chains by promoting resource efficiency and supplier diversification, enhancing national security and economic resilience.
- Investments in sustainable chemical processes foster innovation across ACC member companies, enabling companies to reach new markets and grow job creation.
Through Responsible Care®, ACC members have been driving safety and sustainability and reporting their performance on a host of environmental and safety metrics for more than 35 years. They’ve demonstrated ongoing improvements in reducing GHG emissions intensity, air emissions and water use and improving energy efficiency, while also enhancing employee and operational safety.
Meeting demand for more sustainable products
Consumers are seeking products with clear sustainability attributes, creating new revenue for suppliers of safer, more efficient materials. Consumer research from groups like McKinsey and Nielsen IQ1, Deloitte2 and PwC3, are finding a clear correlation between sustainability claims and consumer spending. These findings note that many consumers are changing their shopping habits, and, in some cases, are willing to pay more for sustainable products. Chemical industry investments in sustainability can help companies across the entire value chain capitalize on this growing market demand.
Solving global challenges
The chemical industry has a vital role to play in solving global challenges. By embedding sustainability into core business strategies and investing in worker safety through Responsible Care®, companies are not only helping to build a better world—they’re building stronger, more resilient businesses. This approach supports economic growth, drives job creation and innovation, and helps enable the industry in delivering essential products that society depends on.
How Sustainability Can Create Business Value for Chemical Manufacturers:
Expand the topics listed below to learn more about the ways sustainability can help create business value for chemical manufacturing companies:
Conserving Vital Environmental Resources
Chemical manufacturing companies that reduce their emissions, conserve water and energy and minimize waste can not only protect natural resources, but also lower operational costs and enhance profitability. Responsible management of environmental resources can also reduce risks tied to legal liability, regulatory enforcement, reputation, and resource scarcity.
ACC members prioritize conservation through water stewardship, land preservation, and site-specific risk assessments. By embedding conservation into business strategy, companies strengthen resilience, build community trust, and secure long-term access to critical resources – supporting both environmental goals and financial success.
ACC members are reducing environmental impacts:
- Arkema’s Kynar Aquatec® Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) coatings are a low-VOC, water-based coating for use in buildings. They can enable a 90 percent reduction in a building’s lifetime VOC emissions. Learn more
- Dow and Ducks Unlimited are undertaking a multi-year, multi-national partnership aimed at restoring and conserving natural habitats across North America. Learn more
Developing & Deploying Innovative Technologies
Innovating and adopting new, advanced technologies can help ACC member companies meet growing marketplace expectations. Burgeoning technologies, like carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and lower emissions hydrogen, can not only help reduce operational emissions, but also create valuable feedstocks.
For example, captured carbon dioxide can be transformed into products like building materials, fuels, plastics, and other chemicals. Using lower-emissions sources of heat, like hydrogen, can help transform steam cracking and other energy-intensive processes, reducing energy costs.
ACC members are innovating and adopting new technologies:
- Celanese operates one of the world’s largest active CCU projects in Clear Lake, Texas, as part of its Fairway Methanol joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Celanese expects the project to capture 180,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and produce 130,000 metric tons of low-carbon methanol per year. Learn more
- The Climate Impulse initiative aims to build an airplane that can achieve the first non-stop, hydrogen-powered electric engine flight around the world. Syensqo is partnering with Climate Impulse, bringing material science and engineering expertise to the project. Learn more
Innovating New Chemical Products
Customers and consumers increasingly are seeking products that perform well and advance sustainability. The chemical manufacturing industry has a history of innovating to meet market demands. A breakthrough chemical product that is safer, more sustainable or addresses an urgent need can help companies reach new markets and revenue streams, gaining a competitive edge.
Many ACC member companies regularly review their product lines to help make sure their products align with customer performance demands, as well as their environmental impact goals.
ACC member companies are helping innovate new products:
- Dow’s MobilityScience™ collaborated with auto seat manufacturer Adient and auto manufacturer JLR to create seat foam for JLR vehicles made from polyurethane foams recovered from existing vehicles, an industry-first in the automotive sector. Learn more
- Clariant’s Dynamic Portfolio Value Program (PVP) has helped the company improve product sustainability assessments to help drive innovation. The internally coded program captures information from the PVP database, enabling real-time simulation of changes across sustainability criteria. Learn more
Advancing Recycling Technologies
Advanced recycling breaks down used plastics into their original building blocks to create new, high-quality plastics, even from hard-to-recycle materials like food packaging and medical waste, keeping valuable resources out of landfills and the environment.
For chemical manufacturers, advanced recycling supports circularity, conserves raw materials, and meets growing demand for sustainable products. These innovations help companies reduce waste, create new revenue streams from recycled feedstocks, and strengthen positioning in a resource-conscious global economy.
ACC members are investing in advanced recycling:
- ExxonMobil Product Solutions and LyondellBasell collaborated with Agilyx on a joint venture called Cyclyx, to source, collect and pre-process large volumes of discarded plastics, helping to turn plastics waste into a valuable resource. Learn more
Attracting & Retaining a Skilled Workforce
As the current workforce ages and retires, manufacturers face rising labor costs, productivity losses, and skill shortages. Without a strong pipeline of skilled workers, companies may struggle to maintain or expand operations, resulting in lost revenue opportunities and reduced competitiveness.
Employees want to work for organizations that prioritize employee safety and wellbeing. And recent research shows Millennials and Gen Z want to work for companies that align with their values4. Demonstrating strong environmental performance, transparency, and operational safety can help companies attract the next-generation workforce, supporting long-term business resilience.
ACC and its members are helping develop a skilled workforce:
- ACC’s Responsible Care® & Sustainability Future Leaders (RCSFL) Program helps prepare high-potential, early career professionals in the chemical industry for challenges of the future. Learn more
- ACC’s Future of STEM Scholars Initiative (FOSSI) is a national, chemical industry-led program that provides resources to qualified students pursuing preferred STEM degrees at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Learn more
Enabling Safer Operations
Safer operations are the cornerstone of a sustainable chemical industry. From processes to products, the chemical industry is working to protect workers, communities, and the environment while enabling innovation, enhancing public trust, and building long-term business resilience.
Through Responsible Care®, the chemical industry continues to raise the bar for safety performance, embedding a culture of accountability and continuous improvement from leadership to the plant floor.
In 2025, ACC members achieved a historic trifecta of safety milestones:
- Transportation Safety: Distribution incidents dropped by 35 percent since 2017, reaching the lowest number ever recorded, with 85 percent rated as low or negligible severity.
- Process Safety: Tier 1 process safety events declined by 22 percent, with 90 percent categorized as low severity, reflecting stronger risk management and operational discipline.
- Worker Safety: Total Recordable Injury and Illness Rate (TRIR) fell by more than 24 percent, outperforming not only the chemical sector but also manufacturing, retail, and agriculture.
Learn more
Engaging with Communities
Local community engagement efforts can help chemical manufacturers build trust, understand stakeholder priorities, and demonstrate responsible operations. Transparent communication on environmental, health, and safety performance strengthens a company’s reputation and supports its “license to operate.”
Strong community relationships, enhanced by participation in Community Advisory Panels (CAPs), can also help ease future expansion efforts, attract and retain talent, and enhance brand loyalty. By supporting local needs and fostering dialogue, companies boost visibility, increase customer trust, and create a more fulfilled workforce—ultimately contributing to long-term business success.
ACC members are working with communities:
- To raise funds for local STEM education, Indovinya, the specialty chemical division of Indorama Ventures, partners with Beaumont Children's Museum to host “Fish-O-Rama" in Port Neches Park, Texas. In 2024, Fish-O-Rama gathered 135 volunteers and more than 1,000 community members and earned over $780,000 for STEM grants for local educators. Learn more
- Covestro LLC’s social responsibility platform, THINC30, convenes community stakeholders to help drive implementation of the 17 UN SDGs in the Pittsburgh community, collaborating with local business, government, academic and nonprofit leaders. Learn more
Enabling a Sustainable, Resilient Supply Chain
Safer chemicals management and environmental stewardship don’t stop at the facility gate. Through ACC’s Responsible Care® Partner program, supply chain partners embrace the same commitment to safety and environmental stewardship that drives industry forward.
When suppliers use less energy, water, and raw materials, they help lower input costs. Using fuel-efficient vehicles can help cut transportation costs. And broader efforts, like using renewable or recycled materials and designing for durability, can help make businesses more resilient in case of material shortages and supply chain disruptions, climate risks or geopolitical instability. These actions promote business growth and long-term value.
ACC members and Responsible Care® Partners are helping create more resilient supply chains and minimize risk:
- Responsible Care Partner WTS, Inc. has identified opportunities to reuse and recycle a variety of byproducts generated through chemical manufacturing, reducing hazardous waste and landfilling. Learn more
- Highway Transport, a Responsible Care Partner, actively monitors its emissions based on mileage, fuel consumption and weight, reducing its total carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by more than 11,000 metric tons. Learn more
- Responsible Care Partner Total Quality Logistincs (TQL) is cutting supply chain emissions through its Empty Miles Reduction Program, eliminating more than 65 million empty miles ahead of schedule and targeting a further 25% reduction by 2030. Learn more