Publikationen Transatlantic Research Lab on Complex Societal Challenges

Can the chemical industry solve the climate change?On the role of human energy production, renewable energies, and the potential of chemistry as a solution provider

Bertau M.; Steiner G.

Erschienen in Chemie Ingenieur Technik , Oktober 2023, Ausgabe 11

Climate change is typically attributed to the amount of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. Here we propose a different view, which takes into account the climate-effecting gas concentration but recognizes human overpopulation and the associated energy production as the real underlying cause. For the chemical industry, there is a lever to change things by replacing existing processes with more efficient ones and by recovering low caloric heat. In this way, the chemical industry can play the role of a driver, a pioneer in the fight against climate change, which underlines the importance of the chemical industry in industrialized countries.