Abstract
The chemical industry is the industry of industries, upstream of all other industries. And green chemistry will lead to transforming this chemical industry into a green chemical industry, the industry of all the future transformations of industry. These transformations obviously affect the manufacturing of materials, but also the production of energy, the purification of water and the production of food. What are the current trends in these green materials? The global market was valued at $111.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $282.9 billion by 2032 1. The green chemicals and materials market is deeply linked to various industrial applications, with emphasis on the use of environmentally friendly and less harmful products compared to their petroleum-based counterparts. This sector is experiencing substantial growth due to increasing focus on sustainability, government regulations and increasing consumer awareness. At the same time, a new policy report 2 shows that prices of many materials-including aluminum and copper-have reached record levels, driven by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, trade tensions and ongoing consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Thus, while production and trade of the most critical raw materials have expanded rapidly over the past decade, growth is not keeping pace with the expected pace of demand for the metals and minerals needed to transform the global economy dominated by fossil fuels to an economy dominated by renewable energy. Thus, lithium, rare earths, chromium, arsenic, cobalt, titanium, selenium and magnesium recorded the largest increases in production volumeranging from 33% for magnesium to 208% for lithium 2-over the last decade, but this is still a far cry from the four-to six-fold increase in demand predicted for the green transition. At the same time, global production of some key raw materials, such as lead, natural graphite, zinc, precious metal ores and concentrates, and tin, has actually declined over the past decade. "The challenge of achieving net zero CO 2 emissions will require a significant increase in the production and international trade of critical raw materials," said OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann 2. Policymakers need to take a close look at how the concentration of production and trade, coupled with the increasing use of export restrictions, is affecting international markets for critical raw materials. We must ensure that material shortages do not prevent us from meeting our climate change commitments. Furthermore, export restrictions on critical raw materials have increased fivefold since the OECD began collecting data in 2009, with 10% of global exports of critical raw materials now facing at least one measure of export restriction. China, India, Argentina, Russia, Vietnam and Kazakhstan imposed the greatest number of new export restrictions over the period 2009-2020 for critical raw materials, and also account for the highest dependence on imports from OECD countries. The OECD believes that the trend of increasing export restrictions could play a role in major international markets, with potentially significant effects on the availability and prices of these materials.