How to foster a resilient value chain for the EU chemical industry

Background

Global value chains are increasingly becoming a central topic in the political debate. To commit to its climate and sustainability targets, the EU has started intervening to regulate value chains and business operations. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions have exposed severe vulnerabilities in global supply chains. There is a strong push for the EU to enhance the resilience of its supply chains and reduce external dependency.

It is key to assess the impact of policies and legislative proposals on value chains and ensure their proper consideration in decision-making processes. This supplementary opinion will illustrate how to address these important issues in a strategic EU industrial sector. The chemical industry requires specific legislations to ensure safe working conditions and a safe treatment of chemical waste along the whole value chain. In addition, its competitiveness depends on the availability of several strategic and critical materials.

This supplementary opinion will analyse how to sustain the resilience and safety of the chemical industry along the whole value chain, in order to produce recommendations for the Council's work on this subject.