The New Year will see landmark initiatives affecting chemical pollution in Europe: a “Clean Industrial Deal”; a start to the proposed revision of the EU’s chemical regulation REACH; and major progress on the universal PFAS restriction. In the USA, Trump will likely try to weaken environmental protections.

There is everything to play for. We hope ChemSec’s work during 2024 will help you answer the big questions that 2025 will pose. Here are some key takeaways:

Lesson 1:  There are alternatives to PFAS

This simple point is so important, and yet so often dismissed by the PFAS lobby. During 2024, ChemSec held a series of expert webinars spelling out the science of alternatives and showcasing commercial providers in six sectors.

• You can access all six webinars on this website here
• We assembled common industry myths about the PFAS ban and took them apart here in one of the most-read articles on our website
• An academic journal article in April pointed to signs that “a seismic shift” away from PFAS is already taking place.

Lesson 2: They make financial sense

A growing number of investors is saying two things: A. producing toxic chemicals can damage companies financially; B. switching to alternatives can actually benefit them.

• The Investor Initiative on Hazardous Chemicals, which ChemSec co-ordinates, witnessed explosive growth this year. Its 74 members now have more than $18 trillion dollars in assets under management or advice (more than the GDP of China!). Who said sustainability is bad for business?!
• In October, ChemSec published a detailed report presenting the business case for chemical manufacturers to address toxic substances.

In 2025, we will face a choice: business as usual, or genuine change

Lesson 3: Awareness is growing

PFAS are in everyone’s bloodstream, but they are also entering the political mainstream. In the same way Rachel Carson’s work on DDT sparked a global outcry against pollution in the 1960s, the PFAS crisis is igniting public concern once more.

The wave of litigation against PFAS producers in the USA is well-known. In Europe there are more than 2,100 sites where PFAS pollution far exceeds the safe limit. The outlook is for increasing legal action across the continent, driven by grass-roots movements. In France in 2024, parliament debated a ban on PFAS in most consumer goods; the Danish government said it will ban PFAS in clothing and footwear from 2026.

ChemSec’s “Wrapped in Chemicals” social media campaign this year confirmed the extent of public concern. Two percent engagement is standard for digital marketing campaigns, but Wrapped in Chemicals saw an average of more than 10%. These short videos and visual facts were viewed almost 20 million times by more than 7 million people in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

Lesson 4: There is (slow) progress

ChemScore, now established as the chemical industry benchmark for sustainability, marked its five-year anniversary. The index demonstrated that the world’s biggest chemical companies:

• Are making only slow progress on switching to safer alternatives
• Continue to rely overwhelmingly on the production of hazardous chemicals
• Notable exceptions to this picture demonstrate that another path is possible
• European plastics producers lag the rest of the world on their toxic footprint.

Lesson 5: REACH holds the key

In 2025, we will face a choice: business as usual, or genuine change. The costs of business as usual are unacceptable, as ChemSec wrote in the Financial Times earlier this year.

The Green Deal has yet to deliver on some of the most important chemical elements, namely a REACH revision and the universal PFAS restriction. Shaping these processes, within the framework established by the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability, is the bare minimum necessary to keep Europeans safe. In 2025, we will need to redouble our efforts to do so.