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Home > News > Recycling

Interview: Uniting the chemical industry to pioneer net-zero and circularity

Source：Adsale Plastics Network Date ：2026-04-21 Editor ：Victor

Copyright： This article was originally written/edited by Adsale Plastics Network (AdsaleCPRJ.com), republishing and excerpting are not allowed without permission. For any copyright infringement, we will pursue legal liability in accordance with the law.

From mobile phones to medical devices, 95% of our everyday products are linked to the chemical industry, which accounts for 7-8% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. However, achieving net-zero emissions presents a challenge that is too vast and complex for individual chemical companies to tackle alone.

The challenge arises because over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions are embedded within value chains rather than confined to individual corporate boundaries. Specifically, the most crucial decarbonization levers—circular feedstocks, waste-to-chemicals pathways, low-carbon fuels, and advanced recycling—operate at the interfaces between chemical producers, waste managers, OEMs, and energy providers.

This is where the Global Impact Coalition (GIC) comes into play. By uniting the world's leading chemical companies, it serves as a neutral platform with clear governance, stage-gated investment logic, and credible pathways to commercialization.

GIC delivers practical solutions – not merely a talking shop that sets targets – with projects like Automotive Plastics Circularity and Waste-to-Pyrolysis Oil. These projects align resin producers, recyclers, automotive OEMs, and technology providers around shared data, cost-sharing, and staged decision-making.

Charlie Tan, CEO of GIC, underscores the importance of practicality: "Chemical companies today are operating under significant margin pressure, especially in Europe, delayed capital deployment, and increased scrutiny over returns. This means collaboration must be sharply focused on tangible outcomes rather than broad ambition."

Tan also emphasizes the need to ground collaboration in real market constraints—volatile feedstock prices, delayed CapEx (Capital Expenditure) cycles, and regulatory uncertainty. When executed effectively, collaboration can accelerate decisions that would otherwise be stalled for years. "No single participant can justify the upfront technical and commercial risk independently, particularly in today's capital-constrained environment," he says.

Charlie Tan, CEO of Global Impact Coalition.

Collaboration based on structured framework

As a global coalition, GIC finds that differences in geography and corporate culture matter far less than alignment on incentives. "European, Middle Eastern, and Asian companies all face similar questions: which decarbonization pathways are scalable, bankable, and competitive within the next investment cycle? GIC's role is to translate that shared pressure into structured collaboration," Tan explains.

Operationally, GIC encounters challenges such as data transparency, IP protection, and varying regulatory assumptions across regions. These issues are addressed through clearly defined project scopes, neutral project management oversight (PMO), and early agreements on decision gates. Without this structured framework, cross-continental collaboration tends to hinder rather than accelerate progress.

There is a growing need to bridge perspectives between regions that are advancing at different rates. For instance, China's scale and execution capabilities contrast with Europe's regulatory initiatives and technological developments. Platforms like GIC are increasingly valuable precisely because they enable these strengths to complement rather than compete with one another — something individual bilateral partnerships often struggle to achieve.

Advancements in automotive recycling

GIC's Automotive Plastics Circularity Real World Pilot tackles a well-documented issue: less than 20% of plastics from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) are recycled into high-value applications, despite millions of tonnes of plastic waste generated annually by ELVs.

GIC has united automotive OEMs, polymer producers, recyclers, and technology providers to align specifications, recycling pathways, and regulatory assumptions. The project has progressed from feasibility studies to concrete validation of recycling routes that meet automotive performance and safety standards.

Again, such advancements would not have been possible without a neutral platform. OEMs cannot redesign material flows in isolation, and recyclers cannot secure long-term demand without commitments from upstream partners. GIC's role has been to align these incentives and facilitate data-driven decision-making.

Tan emphasizes that, as China continues to be the world's largest automotive market with rapidly growing ELV volumes, the relevance of this work is evident. Scalable solutions for ELV plastics will require exactly this type of cross-value-chain coordination.

Expansion to energy and waste management industries

In addition to chemical companies, GIC has recently welcomed partners from other sectors, such as energy and waste management. This expansion acknowledges a fundamental reality: achieving net-zero emissions increasingly involves perspectives and resources beyond the chemical plant.

By integrating energy companies, waste managers, and infrastructure providers, GIC projects have advanced from concept to credible pre-commercial pathways. For instance, GIC's waste-to-methanol and waste-to-pyrolysis oil projects necessitate aligned feedstock aggregation, energy inputs, and offtake commitments—collaboration that would be nearly impossible through bilateral negotiations alone.

Tan adds that this expansion also reflects the current constraints facing the industry. With chemical CapEx under pressure globally, companies are prioritizing projects that share risk and shorten time-to-decision. "Cross-sector collaboration enables precisely that, allowing participants to test economics, logistics, and regulatory viability before committing balance sheet capital," he notes.

He points out that this model is particularly relevant for Asia, including China, where the availability of waste, industrial clustering, and energy integration present unique advantages. "Bringing these sectors together is not a theoretical exercise—it is increasingly the only viable route to scalable, competitive decarbonization," he reiterates.

Next step: Expanding membership to China

Chinese chemical companies are uniquely positioned to shape the next phase of global sustainability. Their scale, execution capabilities, and increasing focus on efficiency and circularity are critical to achieving significant emissions reductions at a global level. "We are actively open to expanding membership in China and see this as a natural next step in GIC's evolution," says Tan.

GIC's focus on execution-ready projects in advanced recycling, alternative feedstocks, and industrial decarbonization closely reflects the strategic agendas of leading Chinese chemical groups, positioning the coalition well for selective engagement as global collaboration in these areas deepens.

Participating in GIC offers a way to engage directly with global value chains, influence emerging standards, and co-develop solutions that are economically viable, not just technically sound. As global supply chains rebalance and sustainability expectations converge, platforms like this become increasingly valuable.