Hear how chemical giants are planning the road to zero carbon

At the 2022 World Petrochemical Conference in Houston, Texas, Jim Fitlin, Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical, Karen McKee, President of ExxonMobil, Brummell, Chairman of BASF, and SABIC Chemical industry leaders like Yusuf Albayyan, the company's vice chairman and chief executive, say the chemical industry can achieve net-zero carbon emissions without sacrificing growth
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However, this requires strong support from governments of various countries, extensive cooperation from industries and enterprises, and a deeper understanding of carbon emissions trading by the public
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Jim Fitlin, Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical

Our people are dynamic and our engineers are engaged
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Customers also have requests, wanting to advertise their own product efforts towards net zero emissions
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We have established a very comprehensive and well-thought-out plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions from chemical production, such as projects underway around the world, including using technologies such as hydrogen fuel crackers, sulfidic catalytic cracking dehydrogenation and carbon capture and storage
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Leveraging these technologies enables business growth and net-zero carbon emissions
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However, these are long-term projects of up to 10 years and require the government to actively implement supporting policies in the long term, such as carbon emission prices
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Additionally, we have selected Alberta, Canada as our first net-zero carbon production site, in part because Canada's emissions trading system creates a favorable market
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In addition, we also plan for the Gulf Coast operation to achieve net zero carbon emissions, which requires a good carbon capture and storage project
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Therefore, I hope to get government help in investment
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Karen McKee, President of ExxonMobil

This is a complicated, winding road, and a congested road
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On the positive side, as long as everyone is on this path, society as a whole can move towards the goal of net-zero carbon emissions
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We, Dow Chemical and 12 other chemical and energy companies announced last year plans to collaborate on a carbon capture and storage project near Houston, Texas
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The project cooperation goal is to capture and store 50 million tons of carbon by 2030
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ExxonMobil has 30 years of experience in carbon capture and storage, capturing and sequestering more carbon dioxide than any company in the world
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Therefore, we are very confident in this project cooperation
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We also plan to build a world-scale blue hydrogen production facility at our production site in Bay City, Texas
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This is another example of inter-company collaboration to facilitate the transition to net-zero carbon emissions
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In addition to carbon capture and storage, hydrogen is a key part of the net-zero carbon emissions solution
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Building a world-scale blue hydrogen production facility is an important step towards a truly net-zero carbon footprint, reducing carbon emissions from our olefins units by up to 30%
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In addition, we can also supply blue hydrogen to other companies
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We also make sure to work with governments and regulators
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On the road to net zero, we need multiple solutions and a stable, comprehensive, predictable and cost-effective regulatory framework that motivates us to go further on this path, developing and expanding the required of all technologies
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Brummeller, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BASF

BASF is enthusiastic and confident in electrification and decarbonization technologies
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We can achieve more electrification in the chemical industry
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In March 2021, BASF joined the project team formed by SABIC and Linde Group to jointly develop the world's first electrically heated steam cracker
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This new technology can reduce carbon emissions by up to 90 percent if the power to heat the furnace comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar
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From the pilot phase to scale-up, in addition to the technical challenges, cheap and abundant renewable energy is required
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However, this technology picks places
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If the factory is in a place like the Ludwigshafen site, which has neither carbon capture and storage capacity nor an ocean, other ways of decarbonizing will have to be sought
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So, we built a whole bunch of technologies called carbon management
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Of course, hydrogen and a lot of other things will play a role, but we're very bullish on electrification
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We have to be honest when it comes to the cost of achieving net zero carbon emissions
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I think the message is always ignored and politicians don't like it
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But we have to tell consumers that if we achieve net zero carbon emissions in the production process, the price of the product will be higher
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Otherwise, we cannot turn transformational ideas into business cases
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I've also noticed that consumers in every industry are increasingly willing to pay more for products with a lower carbon footprint
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I think that by 2030, the demand for zero carbon footprint products will be higher than the supply
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