We can’t quit fossil fuels without tackling petrochemicals

Between 24 and 29 April, 57 countries participated in a historic conference on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, hosted in Santa Marta (Colombia). Participants discussed how to speed up the phaseout of fossil fuels, focusing on coordinated action rather than passive debate. This stands in opposition to the yearly UN climate conferences (COPs), which have discussed the transition but have not yet produced an action plan.

While conferences and reports organised by the UN and focused on climate change provide only very toned-down recommendations (due to industrial lobbying and political influence), the conference in Santa Marta was organised in order to plan concrete actions. The first conference did not result in a political outcome, but hopefully the second conference will bring us closer to a legally binding fossil fuel treaty.

Petrochemicals – the fossil fabric of our existence

The conference in Santa Marta was also an opportunity to discuss an aspect of the fossil industry that was largely overlooked in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports from the UN – petrochemicals. While fossil fuels typically describe what we burn to power cars, produce electricity or warm our homes (and to do many other things), not all oil, coal or gas extracted from the earth is used as fuel. A substantial part gets converted into petrochemicals – first into basic chemical building blocks like ethylene or benzene, which are further used to produce plastics, fibres, detergents, explosives and fertilisers. Industrial society is highly dependent on petrochemicals in various forms – sometimes more obvious, like plastic packaging, sometimes hidden, like food produced using fossil-based fertilisers.

Ammonia and ammonia-derived products are a good example of hidden petrochemicals. Although ammonia does not contain carbon, almost all ammonia produced today is made from fossil gas. It is a key ingredient in nitrogen fertilisers and, by volume, one of the world's largest petrochemicals.

We will explore ammonia in more detail, including its production and the fossil industry's push for new applications, in a dedicated blog article. 

Delphine Lévi Alvarès, who represented the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) at the conference, highlighted the importance of addressing the expansion of petrochemicals. Expansion of this sector ensures that society stays attached to oil, gas and coal even after moving away from using them as fuels. Already now, the chemical infrastructure is overbuilt, meaning that it produces (or has the potential to produce) more petrochemicals than we need. On the one hand, this results in manufacturing facilities shutting down; on the other, it encourages companies to create more demand.

The fossil industry’s plan B

In March, CIEL published a report titled Curb Petrochemicals to Unlock a Full Fossil Fuel Phaseout. They explain that the growth of the petrochemical sector is a deliberate strategy of the industry. Fossil companies want to make sure that they stay in business even when we stop using fossil fuels for transportation and energy. In fact, this transition has been openly discussed by the fossil giants for years. As Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, said in 2018 to hundreds of fellow petrochemical executives assembled in Dubai: “the tremendous growth in chemicals demand [sic] provides us with a fantastic window of opportunity”.

Over the last decades, the fossil fuel industry has been increasing its capacity for petrochemical production and integrating it with refineries. The key point about the integration is that oil refineries are no longer just making fuel – they are being redesigned so that the same facilities can directly turn crude oil into both fuel and petrochemicals. This will keep refineries running, even when we transition away from fossil fuels in energy production.

Waiting for just transition

Reliance on petrochemicals does not only lock in fossil extraction. It also poses massive threats to human health and the environment, for example in the form of microplastic release or nitrogen pollution. Petrochemical phaseout is therefore an urgent issue that cannot be omitted from discussions on transitioning away from fossil fuels.

The fact that petrochemicals are an integral part of our lives means that their decline must be carefully planned to protect human rights and global well-being, including the livelihoods of workers in petrochemical facilities and the needs of people who still lack access to non-fossil-based alternatives.

Hopefully, initiatives like the conference in Santa Marta will drive a just systemic transformation into a fossil-independent economy. In the meantime, try to reduce your petrochemical dependence on a personal level. Besides avoiding plastics, buy organic food and cosmetics, and stay away from synthetic fibres. This way, you will not only challenge the fossil industry but also protect your health and the environment.

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For more information contact: info@scarabtrust.org.uk

Image: brightly lit refinery in Kansas - Photo by Taylor Hunt on Pexels (ST ref: 1385)