MOSCOW (MRC) -- Industry groups welcomed President Joe Biden on his first day in office, vowing to work together with the administration on its stated goals to address the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change in its early days. The American Chemistry Council particularly praised Biden for following through on his "Day One" promise of signing an executive order rejoining the Paris Agreement and committing the United States to lower carbon emissions, reported Chemweek.
“(ACC) and its members welcome President Biden’s executive decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement,” ACC said in a statement. “America’s chemical and plastics manufacturers - a primary driver of the American economy, American innovation and the creation of emissions-reducing technologies - support meaningful efforts to reduce emissions for the health of our planet and future generations.”
The Paris Agreement seeks to limit GHG concentrations to a level consistent with a global warming of well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It was signed in 2015 at the Sustainable Innovation Forum COP21 and ratified by 189 countries. Former President Trump withdrew the US from the Paris accord in 2017, a move that only became effective in November of last year.
ACC cautioned, however, that for the Paris targets to be met, Congress and the private sector must work together to develop and implement a national, comprehensive, market-based system to drive emissions reductions. “The technologies and materials created by our industry are helping to reduce emissions throughout our economy today,” the trade group added. “As demand for low and zero emissions solutions continues to grow in the future, so too will the demand for the products of chemistry, including plastics. Virtually every low-carbon electricity, energy efficiency and transportation technology is made possible by the chemical industry, including solar panels, wind turbines, electric and high-efficiency vehicles, energy-efficient building products, low-emissions fuels, and advanced batteries.”
ACC also pledged to work with Democrats, Republicans, NGOs, and “Americans of all political stripes” to find common ground on the solutions needed to help solve other pressing challenges. “From chemistry’s unique role in defeating COVID-19, to combating climate change, to improving sustainability and protecting the health and safety of people worldwide, the stakes could not be higher – and the ability of the Biden Administration and chemical industry to work together to develop solutions, more imperative,” ACC added.
SOCMA also issued a release saying it looked forward to working with the Biden administration. "SOCMA is committed to creating a robust dialogue with incoming officials and cultivating long-standing relationships within key agencies that govern our industry, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the Food and Drug Administration, among others," the trade group said in a statement. "By working together, we can resolve challenges and identify opportunities for the specialty chemical industry to thrive.”
Biden has also indicated he will reverse several Trump policies reducing environmental protections.
As MRC informed earlier, ACC’s chemical activity barometer (CAB), a composite of industry activity and leading economic indicator, increased 1.1% on a sequential three-month moving average (3MMA) basis in December. The index fell 1.1% year-on-year (YOY) in December. The CAB index points toward continued economic recovery.
We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. Last month"s production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
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