Food shortages and price rises are inevitable next year. So we all need to reduce the 25% of food now thrown away each year in the developed world. And in the developing world, we need to reduce the 25% lost due to logistics and storage failures. The less we waste, the more there will be to eat.
Chemicals and the Economy
Smartphone sales continue to fall as consumers cut back
Consumers around the world are tightening their purses and cutting back on non-essential purchases, as the recession continues to develop and China’s real estate bubble bursts.
World Bank, IMF warn of famine risk as Russia’s war hits wheat output and hikes fertilizer costs
Essentially, the problem is a timebomb which is set to explode next winter unless governments work together to increase arable planting, establish emergency stocks, and subsidize fertilizer costs whilst gas prices remain at today’s record levels.
Automakers, governments, start to prepare for the launch of Autonomous Vehicles
Automakers are ahead of the game in terms of strategic planning. They soon realised the move to EVs meant their traditional business model, based on proprietary engine technology, would inevitably become obsolete. And so they quickly realised they need to pivot to focus on AVs and become software-driven. The rest of us need to catch up.
UN Environment Assembly starts endgame for single-use plastics
Plastics recycling is set to become a major new industry, based on the need to use renewable carbon. As the Nova Institute has shown, there is scope to expand production by 15x by 2050. And so if plastics companies don’t get to work now, new entrants will quickly emerge to replace them.
Batttery swapping at service stations set to overcome ‘range anxiety’ for Electric Vehicles
BP are aiming for their new joint venture in China to provide drivers with a fresh, fully-charged battery in less than a minute – and save 2 million tonnes of CO2
The trend is your friend in the smartphone market
Two core trends are playing out in the smartphone market, now it has gone ex-growth. The weaker players are suffering major hits to their revenue and profits. And the most successful company, Apple, is busy accelerating its move into the more service-based markets of the future.
Plastics industry feedstocks at risk from the rise of Electric Vehicles
The plastics industry as we know it today, may well start to move into an endgame as it is squeezed from both ends of the value chain.
Chart of the Year – the surge in Electric Vehicle sales will disrupt auto, oil and petrochemical markets
The implications of the rise in EV sales go well beyond the auto and oil markets, with petrochemicals likely to be next in line for disruption. This is why the surge in EV sales up the S-curve of adoption has to be my Chart of the Year.
Plastics producers need to move to recycled feedstocks as Western refineries start to close
Plastics producers are now being squeezed from both ends of the value chain. Upstream, the growing demand for Electric Vehicles is starting to lead to refinery closures, reducing feedstock availability. Downstream, brand owners are stepping up the pressure for increased use of recycled plastic, as the new Global Commitment report from the Ellen Macarthur Foundation […]
Jump to page: