Climate neutrality: 2050 or already earlier?
Last year, everyone was talking about the European Green Deal and the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Now that the topic is gaining further momentum, Germany has decided to become climate-neutral by 2045. This is one of the key points of a reform of the German climate protection law presented in May of this year. Furthermore, the United States have returned to the global stage in the fight against global warming and have formulated new climate protection targets for 2030. What does that mean for actors in the chemical industry? How can the chemical industry be transformed? Although many questions, especially regarding the practical implementation, are yet to be answered, one thing is clear: No one in the chemical industry can bypass this topic anymore. Two articles in this issue deal with this highly relevant topic while the third article about electronic marketplaces addresses another megatrend – digitalization.
Adam Franz and Manfred Kirchner´s article “Options for CO2-neutral production of bulk chemicals” addresses the challenge of transforming to more sustainable and in particularly less emission intensive bulk chemical production. Sources of scope 1-3 emissions related to chemicals are discussed and subsequently, options to reduce them are presented using 1,4-butanediol (BDO) and formaldehyde as examples.
The article “Validating the Product-Market-Fit of a B2B Platform Venture with a Minimum Viable Product: The Coating Radar Case Study” written by Lars Schmitt, presents a contribution to the young research field of digital entrepreneurship. It starts by looking at the business model of an electronic marketplace (EM) which is particularly attractive for fragmented markets and emphasizes that not much is known yet about the early validation of a marketplace business model. In the following, the author describes the validation process of an EM by the example of the venture Coating Radar.
Finally, the commentary “Sustainability in Uncertainty?” by Apurva Gosalia raises the question whether sustainability is still a priority in times of uncertainty and in the post-pandemic world. The article offers insights into several sustainability concepts (e.g. 3 P´s of sustainability or 3 C´s to carbon neutrality) and gives some examples from the lubricants industry. By connecting sustainability with the five principles of effectuation, the author emphasizes that sustainability is a solution in times of uncertainty and advocates for further climate action.
Please enjoy reading the second issue of the eighteenth volume of the Journal of Business Chemistry. We are grateful for all the support from authors and reviewers. If you have any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us at Janine.heck@businesschemistry.org. For more updates and insights on management issues in the chemical industry, follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/jobc/ and subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.businesschemistry.org/
Janine Heck Bernd Winters
(Executive Editor) (Executive Editor)