We expect to see a step up in chemical companies parading their green credentials – or plans for more green credentials, not just because COP26 is ahead but because it has now become a competitive issue. Dow’s view that it may be able to sell low carbon polyethylene in the US at a premium to regular polyethylene reflects a fairly rapidly changing narrative with customers, many of whom are also trying to accelerate their green credentials. For a couple of years, we saw packaging companies, for example, talk in broad terms about ambitions around recycled/renewable content, carbon footprints, etc. Now we are seeing the results of them trying to put their ambitions into practice and they are looking for tangible solutions from their suppliers to help them meet the pledges that they have made to consumers. For many of the packagers, the cost of the packaging is a very small component of the product cost and we would expect the packagers to look at more expensive packaging solutions if it gives them a better label. In the Air Products chart below, the company is using the La Porte start-up to remind us that it is already a huge player in hydrogen and hydrogen infrastructure. See our recent ESG and Climate Report.
Source: Air Products – Presentation to California Energy Commission, October 2021
