Petrochemicals Europe's General Assembly (February 2019)

On 8 February, Petrochemicals Europe’s General Assembly took place in Brussels. It brought together a record number of participants and featured two high-level speakers from ICIS and McKinsey who talked about petrochemical feedstock and plastics and waste recycling respectively.

Pieter Platteeuw, Petrochemicals Europe´s Chairman, kicked off the meeting by welcoming the participants. The Advocacy, Science and Communications Managers gave an overview of Petrochemicals Europe’s activities in 2018 in their respective fields. The main highlights are the following: events organised jointly with EU40 (network of young parliamentarians) at the European Parliament, the visit organised for EU officials at the Port of Antwerp and the Borealis plant; the scientific study carried out by sector groups on benzene, ETBE etc.; and the young ambassadors’ campaign to attract youngsters into the industry. Dorothee Arns, Petrochemicals Europe’s Executive Director, summarized the results of the Board meeting and outlined the priorities for 2019: sustainability in all its aspects (decarbonisation, circular economy, sustainable finance), education and the attractiveness of the petrochemical industry and regulatory topics.

The floor was then given to the three guest speakers. The ICIS representatives gave a presentation entitled “Petrochemicals beyond 2019: about feedstock pushes and demand walls”, while the McKinsey representative analysed how plastics and waste recycling could transform the (petro-)chemical industry.

The presentations are available upon request.