GPCA calls on Gulf chemical industry to embrace circular economy

The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) has called on the GCC chemical industry to steer business and operating models towards achieving the goals of circular economy, decarbonization and addressing fundamental structural challenges.

Speaking at the second edition of the GPCA Leaders Forum, GPCA Chairman and Sabic CEO Yousef al-Benyan acknowledged the broad implications, urgency and impact on shareholder value of reducing greenhouse gas emissions using a circular carbon economy platform.

The forum was held in Dubai under the theme “Innovating in 2022: Regional Industry in Transformation”, bringing together chemical leaders to address future realities and opportunities with a strategic mindset.

Benyan explained that chemical companies in the GCC achieving the decarbonization goal are even more critical than other manufacturing sectors in the economy, as the chemical industry itself is a decarbonization tool for national oil companies.

He identified three priority transformation areas for the chemical industry: partnerships and collaborations, agility, new businesses and operating models.

“The key question is how GCC companies can address these priorities. The answer is by focusing on talent and technology,” Benyan said, adding that “we need to take a holistic approach to attracting and retaining top talent and, at the same time, we need to create a sustainable source of competitive talent at we “.

The CEO pointed out that the GCC chemical companies are mainly technology users, and in the future, technology will create a greater gap between technology developers and technology users as the advantage of resources increases. is eroding.

GPCA held its first session last year with the participation of regional leaders, discussing lessons learned from the pandemic and presenting a unified message on the importance of resilience, speed of recovery and preparedness to face challenges future.

Sabic unveiled its 2021 Carbon Neutral Roadmap, which plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, affirming its commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The roadmap identifies five paths to decarbonization: reliability, energy efficiency and improvements; renewable energy; electrification; carbon capture; and green/blue hydrogen.

The Gulf countries are shifting from traditional means to using technologies that reduce emissions and extract new resources from hydrogen.

Saudi Arabia became the first country to adopt the circular economy approach and pushed for its endorsement internationally through the G20, which it hosted in 2020.