The International Council of Chemical Associations has released a report looking at the lifecycle impacts of products made from chemicals, showing how certain products can prevent and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The report looks at 2005 figures, stating that in that year, chemical products and technologies helped save more than two to three times as many CO2 equivalent emissions than they contributed to putting out. The report considers the entire lifecycles of the chemical products, from material extraction to disposal.

Between 1990 and 2005, the European Union's chemical industry's production increased 60 percent as total energy use stayed flat, reducing absolute GHG emissions by almost 30 percent.

The U.S.'s chemical industry has also seen its absolute GHG emissions fall by about 13 percent since 1990. And since 1974, the U.S. chemical industry has nearly halved the amount of fuel and energy consumed per unit of production.

Much of the emissions savings came from insulation materials, which, by reducing the amount of heating fuel needed by buildings, accounted for 40 percent of the identified savings.

The other major products that the report says helped save emissions are chemical fertilizers and crop protection products that increase agricultural yields and avoid emissions from land-use changes, low-temperature detergents, compact fluorescent light bulbs, lightweight plastic packaging, marine antifouling coatings, synthetic textiles, automotive plastics, engine efficiency and plastics used in piping.

The report states that further savings from chemical products are possible, and the ratio of emissions savings to emissions could increase to more than 4:1 by 2030. But, the report says, that effort need policies and regulations, including a focus on opportunities that provide the largest, most efficient and lowest cost emissions abatement, support for development of new technologies, support for efficient and sustainable use of available feedstocks and energy, and an overall push for energy efficiency.

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