Cefic highlights ‘water challenges’ facing European chemicals industry

Brussels – The European chemicals industry should prepare for water scarcity and drought this summer as “an emergency of our times”, according to the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic).

The industry group's warning comes following the “most severe drought in 500 years” in Europe during the summer of 2022.

In addition to impacting communities across Europe, Cefic said drought and water scarcity created significant challenges for manufacturing sectors, including the chemicals industry.

“We see the impact of droughts directly on the chemical industry’s activities, for instance on our ability to transport”, said Cefic’s director general Marco Mensink.

“Analysing the trends over the last 20 or 10 years, these are quite worrying,” said Stéphane Isoard, head of group for assessments and actionable knowledge, at the European Environmental Agency (EEA).

“When we look to the future, we also expect quite negative developments in terms of climate change impacts on water resources,” he added.

Citing an EEA water study, Cefic said EU industry is estimated to be able to save up to 30% of its total water-abstraction just by improving water-use efficiency.

While the chemicals industry has been developing and implementing water saving technologies at company level, Cefic called for a “cross-sectoral approach on a local level” as the next step.

Improvement, it said, requires systemic change, whereby companies from various sectors located in an area work together: "because water availability is almost always a regional issue."