The chemical industry, which has been charged with a major responsibility to decarbonize
Updated by Taro Kamagata on May 10, 2025, 9:20 PM JST
Taro KAMAGATA
（Platinum Initiative Network, Inc.
After graduating from Keio University with a degree in economics in 1982, he joined Toppan Printing Co. In 1988, he moved to Mitsubishi Research Institute, where he was in charge of urban and regional management and public-private partnerships (PPP, PFI, etc.). He later became an executive officer and served as Director of the Regional Management Research Division, Director of the Platinum Society Research Division, and Managing Executive Officer and General Manager of the Research and Development Division, etc. He was seconded to Mitsubishi Research Institute DCS as Senior Managing Director in 2018, retired as an officer of Mitsubishi Research Institute in 2021, and became an advisor to Platinum Initiative Network in 2022. Leader of the Secretariat of the Platinum Forest Industry Initiative.
The title of this article, with its seemingly disparate themes of "forests" and "chemical industry," may have you wondering, "What in the world does this have to do with anything?" Many of you may be wondering, "What on earth is the relationship between forests and the chemical industry? In fact, the relationship between forests and the chemical industry is very important for the future of Japan. In fact, we believe that the relationship between forests and the chemical industry is very important for the future of Japan, and that both should be actively involved in the future. In this column, we will focus on the chemical industry and explain the relationship between forests and chemistry, as well as the role the chemical industry should play and the direction it should take in order to realize a circular forest economy.
Platinum Initiative Network launched the "Platinum Forest Industry Initiative" in October 2023 and announced "Vision 2050: Japan Shines, Forest Circular Economy" in May 2024. The three objectives of this initiative are to "achieve decarbonization," "strengthen economic security," and "revitalize regions.
As global warming becomes more serious, one of the objectives of the Platinum Forest Industry Initiative is "decarbonization", an issue we must take seriously. Among others, a great responsibility is placed on the chemical industry. Japan's CO2 emissions will be approximately 1,037 million tons by 2022. Of this, the industrial sector (after allocation of electricity and heat) accounts for 34% of total emissions.
Within the industrial sector, the steel industry has the largest share of 38.1%, followed by the chemical industry with 15.8%. The chemical industry, which emits such large amounts of CO2, has a responsibility to reduce CO2 emissions, and this is a top priority issue that can no longer be postponed.
Against this backdrop, the chemical industry is first working to reduce the large amount of CO2 emitted in the manufacturing process. First, a "fuel conversion" is underway, whereby fossil resource-derived fuels used in manufacturing are switched to decarbonized fuels such as ammonia.
Furthermore, chemical products are made from petroleum, a fossil resource, and when incinerated after use, they generate large amounts of CO2. In order to reduce these emissions, it is essential to review the raw materials themselves.
One of the concrete measures for raw material conversion is the promotion of "recycling" (resource circulation), in which waste materials such as plastics are reused as raw materials instead of being incinerated.
In Japan, although recycling is progressing in some areas, such as PET bottles, the percentage of material and chemical recycling that is reused as raw materials for products is only 25% in total. In contrast, "thermal recycling," which recovers energy by incineration, accounts for 63% of the total, but is not actually recognized as recycling in Europe.
However, Japan finally formulated its "Plastic Resource Recycling Strategy" in 2019, and efforts are now in full swing with the goal of doubling the recycling of plastics by 2030. The "resource recycling" of waste to be reborn as products has finally begun in earnest.
However, even if all waste is collected and recycled, the required chemical products cannot be supplied by waste alone because of weight loss and loss in the manufacturing process and other processes. In addition to recycling, new resources must be utilized to replace fossil resources.
Biomass resources" are attracting attention as a promising alternative. In particular, the use of forest resources (woody biomass), which are abundant in Japan, is expected to be utilized. In the next issue, we will discuss the potential of biomass resources. (Taro Kamagata, Advisor, Platinum Initiative Network)
