Chemicals - what's the problem?
Published: 19 Nov 2021
Global chemical production has almost doubled since 2000 and is now – if the pharmaceutical business is taken into account – the world’s second largest industry.
It is estimated that around 143,000 different chemicals substances are registered. The role of some chemicals in biodiversity destruction are of course reasonably well known. The excess use of phosphorous and nitrogen in agricultural products can contribute to ocean dead zones and chemicals used in products such sun lotions can impact on coral reef ecosystems. The role of some chemicals and that of chemical industry in helping drive climate chaos however is probably not as well known.
The chemical industry itself has a massive global carbon footprint and the chemicals themselves can have huge climate impacts.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that:
‘However, emissions in this sector are dominated by a relatively small number of key outputs: ethylene, ammonia, nitric acid, adipic acid and caprolactam used in producing plastics, fertilizer, and synthetic fibres.’
There is also evidence to suggest that some everyday chemicals can be harmful and that many people aren’t aware of this. Hormone disrupting chemicals potentially even threaten human fertility around the world. The UN has stated that there is a pressing need to tackle chemical pollution as global production is set to double by 2030.
Interestingly, a study has also found that normal household chemicals such as cleaning products and chemicals can contribute as much volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as vehicles to urban air pollution emissions.
Climate chaos will also affect the behaviour of certain chemicals in our environment, potentially exposing us to even more harmful chemicals.
Keep cool and tackle climate chaos!
Fluorinated gases (‘F-gases’) are man-made gases used in a range of industrial applications such as in fridges, air conditioning units, solvents and aerosols.
Hydrofluorocarbons were developed as alternatives to ozone depleting substances but unfortunately have a global warming potential thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide.
There are an estimated 1.4 billion fridges and freezers and 1.6 billion air conditioning units in the world today and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) predicts that:
‘As global temperatures rise, the demand for cooling equipment is soaring. Alarmingly, the number of domestic air-con units is predicted to triple by 2050.’
The emissions of F-gases in the EU almost doubled from 1990 to 2014 – in contrast to emissions of all other greenhouse gases, which were reduced. However, thanks to EU legislation on fluorinated gases, F-gas emissions have been falling since 2015 (EEA data).
‘emissions from F gases have increased significantly, mainly due to an increase in emissions from refrigeration and air-conditioning as HFCs replaced ozone depleting substances which were previously used as refrigerants. This increasing trend slowed in recent years and since 2015 has reversed, following the introduction of the HFC phase down as part of the EU’s 2014 F-Gas Regulation.’
Project Drawdown estimates that:
‘Pursuant to the Kigali accord signed in 2016, the replacement of HFC refrigerants with a mix of alternatives can result in a range of emissions reductions equivalent to 43.5-50.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide from 2020-2050.’
No laughing matter!
Nitrous Oxide (N₂O) (also called laughing gas), is another less talked about climate changing gas. It is about 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than CO2. It is also ‘the third most important long-lived greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide and methane.’
‘The agriculture sector dominates emissions of N2O: emissions from agricultural soils in 2018 account for 56% of total UK emissions, and other agricultural sources add another 13%. Other important sources in recent years include road transport, other fuel combustion sources and waste processes’
There have been reductions of this gas since 1970 but the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) ‘has warned that reductions since 2008 have flatlined. This includes agriculture, where emissions have remained almost constant since 2008, though in 2016 emissions were 2% higher than those in 2008. The CCC stated that if the Government is to make further progress in hitting its Carbon Budgets, it will need to bring about further reductions in nitrous oxide emissions, including those from agriculture. It said that the latter can be achieved by better linking farming support to emissions reduction by addressing areas such as nutrient and waste and manure management.
As such, we are pleased that the Welsh Government’s ‘Sustainable Farming and our Land’ proposals for supporting Welsh farmers after Brexit includes Sustainable Land Management principles at its core. It is vital that we support farmers, tenant farmers and land managers to be competitive whilst reducing the input of nitrogen fertilisers.
Project Drawdown estimates that:
‘By reducing fertilizer overuse on a total of 380-817 million hectares of farmland by 2050—up from an estimated 139 million hectares currently—avoided nitrous oxide emissions could equal 2.3-12.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide’
In our quest to reach ‘net zero’ emissions, the issue of chemicals must not be forgotten.