“The transition to renewable energy requires substantial investments, with an indeterminate outcome.”

The chemicals industry plays a key role in everyday life, even though its products are often invisible to us. This was illustrated by Dr. Tobias Ohler, CFO of Wacker Chemie AG, in the conference’s final talk of the day. He explained that chemical products are the “magic ingredients” in countless everyday items, from buildings and electronics to cosmetics and food. One of the most significant products is silicone, which is used in almost every industry for applications as diverse as sealing joints, in the automotive sector or in personal care products. It is also an essential component in medical technology, including in catheters and ventilators, for example.

The chemicals industry faces many fundamental challenges. Although the trend towards sustainability is fuelling innovation, with more than two-thirds of products in this industry already geared towards this issue, there are two sides to the move towards climate neutrality in the chemicals sector. Firstly, while chemicals enable climate-friendly technology to become a reality, they are extremely energy-intensive in themselves. According to Dr. Ohler, the transition to renewable energy requires significant investment with an indeterminate outcome. The CFO highlighted the sector’s massive energy requirements and thus its significant dependence on reliable energy policy and gave the example of a chemicals facility that singlehandedly accounts for 0.5% of electricity consumption and 1% of gas consumption in Germany. This is why the war in Ukraine caused huge disruption to energy prices. This dependence on Russian gas and massive overstocking along the value chain triggered a significant recession. 

According to Ohler, regulatory challenges such as carbon pricing and the EU Taxonomy continue to make international competition increasingly complex. The sector is reacting to these challenges by increasingly electrifying its processes, reducing carbon emissions and certifying its supply chains. By contrast, digitalisation is a growth driver due in particular to rising demand for high-purity silicon for computer chips, an area that requires the utmost precision and allows only one foreign atom per one billion atoms. With this in mind, Dr. Ohler is right to say that without chemicals, there would be no computers.