Orion S.A has released its 2025 Sustainability Report, highlighting the need for a climate policy that reflects the basic realities of chemistry and manufacturing. This issue is the focus of the report’s “CEO Letter,” noting the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) as one of the top sustainability topics on the minds of chemical industry leaders with operations in Europe.

The ETS is designed to reduce European greenhouse gas emissions by requiring companies to purchase permits to cover their carbon dioxide emissions. While businesses have free allowances each year, said allowance thresholds will be phased out over time.  

“While I support the underlying goal of the ETS,” said Corning Painter, CEO of Orion. “The policy is simply going to result in shifting jobs and CO₂ emissions from Europe to Asia, with no reduction in CO₂. The policy’s expectations for the carbon black industry overlook basic realities of chemistry, physics, and manufacturing.”

These overlooked realities include: 

• CO₂ being a low-energy molecule.
• Separating CO₂ is energy intensive. 
• Capturing or converting CO₂ is expensive. 

The report suggests the EU should choose a more realistic path based on science, encouraging officials to adopt ways to transition manufacturing toward sustainability through innovation coupled with incentives, as well as more judicious trade policies. 

“The EU’s current policy will simply result in European manufacturing being replaced by production in India and China,” concluded Painter. “This will not help the environment, and it will make the EU more dependent on imports for essential raw materials, such as carbon black.”