New research from the University of Sheffield projects that greenhouse gas emissions from petrochemical production could rise about 50 percent by 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario. The study mapped emissions from more than 37,000 production facilities and process units worldwide, and found that just 10 percent of facilities account for over half of the sector's emissions. Ethylene and ammonia manufacturing are the largest sources. The researchers built an open access dashboard that shows emissions at facility, product, process, and country level. That kind of granularity makes it easier to target decarbonization efforts, whether through retrofits, electrification, carbon capture, or policy like carbon border adjustments. For anyone tracking industrial emissions, this is a useful reference for where the petrochemical sector actually stands and where to intervene first.
