c . Ensuring that all countries have the capacity for sound management of chemicals , particularly through co-ordinated national policies , legislation and infrastructure ; d . Ratifying and implementing chemicals conventions and agreements and ensuring efficient and effective co-ordination between all chemical safety-related organisations and activities ; e . Marshalling resources to remedy chemical safety problems warranting concerted international response and action , such as illegal trafficking in toxic and dangerous products ; and f . Increasing access to information , knowledge , and skills development in chemical safety , recognising that communities have a right-to-know about chemicals in the environment and to participate meaningfully in decisions about chemical safety that affect them .
COVID-19 is challenging the way we think of chemical industry trends - World Economic Forum
COVID-19 has shattered many established beliefs , shaken up value chains , prompted Governments into action and upended many consumer behaviours . In the first months of the crisis , businesses and Governments logically focused on protecting people and identifying the steps to recover from a deep health , economic and social shock .
Through all this and in an effort to maintain the availability of goods across the economy , the chemical ( and other manufacturing industries ) dedicated much attention to understanding the pandemic ’ s impact on stocks ( e . g . managing volumes or production location to match shifting demand ) and flows ( e . g . changing supply routes to guarantee supply of consumer goods or intermediates ).
The World Economic Forum ’ s Chemical and Advanced Materials Industry Action Group ( IAG ), supported by the Forum and in collaboration with Accenture , has identified opportunities to increase sectorial and societal resilience through collaborative action .
The chemical and advanced materials industry has been shaped by long-term , stable trends , like its pattern of feedstocks , the evolutionary perfection of technologies , the incremental capacity investments that shift the industry ’ s centre of gravity to new regions and balance economic cycles . The industry makes strategic decisions and commitments for decades rather than years , and includes detailed assessment of relevant trends ( e . g . when planning asset investments ; implementing seminal regulation like REACH , or packaging waste ; or making a shift to circular business ). Any changes to the underlying sector trends have a profound impact on how successful these bets can be . While most of these trends have been visible for years , the accelerated speed of adoption for many , and the scale these are reaching in a very short period following COVID-19 , is noteworthy .
Consumer preferences have shifted rapidly towards more environmentally friendly , sustainable and ethical purchases , and dramatically accelerated FMCG ( fast-moving consumer goods ) manufacturer responses . These require very significant chemical industry contributions . Recent research shows that COVID-19 prompted 61 % of consumers to change shopping habits immediately , and nearly 90 % of those consumers say they will adhere to the changes post-crisis . Consumer industries are adapting to these preferences by pledging to increase the percentage of recycled and bio-based content in their supply chains . Policy-makers are addressing these consumer expectations by setting more ambitious sustainability agendas .
Trends were once the basis for strategic planning in the chemical and advanced material industry , as they could be expected to slowly unfold over long periods of time , allowing for careful decisions based on rigorous analysis of the future ( scenarios ). This has brought the industry stability and successful evolutionary development . COVID-19 has reshaped this landscape by squeezing the timeline in which trends materialise from decades to a few years , and by disrupting the relative dynamics of trends , increasing the relevance of some trends while pushing others into obsolescence .
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