- €4.5 billion invested by INEOS in Project ONE will cut CO2 emissions by two thirds and secure the chemicals Europe depends on for healthcare, food, energy and defence.
- This is exactly the kind of project Europe claims to support, yet the “Innovation Fund” has turned it down. If Project ONE doesn’t qualify, the system is not working.
- The new ETS Investment Booster is a test of the Commission’s credibility. If Europe is serious about decarbonising industry and staying competitive, it must back real projects, happening now, at scale, not distant ambitions.
- Investors are watching. Ignore projects like this and capital will keep leaving and with it the trillion-euro chemical industry that underpins Europe’s economy.
- Support projects like Project ONE or accept this could be the last of its kind in Europe.
INEOS is investing €4.5 billion in a world-scale, state-of-the-art petrochemical facility in Antwerp that slashes carbon emissions by two thirds compared to the average cracker in Europe. The trillion Euro chemical industry is one of Europe’s largest and most important sectors.
Whilst Europe sees a growing list of closures - 200 in the last 3 years - and companies exiting the region to focus on investments in the US and China, INEOS alone is committing to Europe through the investment in the only new cracker to be built in Europe in 30 years.
The Project ONE cracker will be Europe’s most energy efficient cracker for the production of ethylene, a vital raw material which is a key building block for the whole of the chemical industry in Europe, thereby supporting critical sectors such as health and pharmaceuticals, food, clean water, technology and communications, energy, and defence. Without these chemicals Europe cannot run hospitals, feed people, or build armaments. It is essential for national security.
Investments such as this are not only necessary to enable Europe to meet its CO2 emission reduction targets but are also vital to enhance European competitiveness and safeguard supplies of strategically important raw materials.
However, despite these credentials, INEOS’ Project ONE has not received any support from EU funding programmes, such as the Innovation Fund which describes itself as “the EU fund for climate policy, with a focus on energy and industry” and claims to “bring to the market solutions to decarbonise European industry and support its transition to climate neutrality while fostering its competitiveness”. If Project ONE does not meet these objectives, then what does?
The European Commission has recently announced a new fund - the ETS Investment Booster. If Europe is serious about supporting investment in decarbonisation of its industry, then this fund needs to support real-world, real-time investments such as Project ONE, otherwise industry will lose any remaining confidence in Europe and Project ONE risks being Europe’s last meaningful investment in the one trillion Euro chemical industry. Project ONE needs support from Europe.”
ENDS
INEOS PR | +44 (0) 207 193 9030 | ineos@firstlightgroup.io
Richard Longden | INEOS | +41 79 962 61 23 | richard.longden@ineos.com