Leila Faramarzi is the New Petrochemicals Executive Director
Leila Faramarzi is the new Cefic Petrochemicals Executive Director as of 16 January 2026. In this role, she and her team will work to leverage climate ambition with competitiveness, while restoring investor confidence and creating predictable frameworks.
With a PhD in chemical engineering and almost 20 years of experience across the chemical, energy and materials value chains in Europe, Leila will play a crucial role in Cefic’s work on the effect of high energy costs, capital constraints and rapidly shifting geopolitical environment, that are affecting the petrochemical sector in Europe.
Looking ahead at the many challenges and opportunities to come, Leila commented:
”Creating the conditions for the chemical industry to operate and transition competitively in Europe keeps capability, skills, and investment at home. Affordable energy, workable regulation, and realistic transition pathways are central to sustaining Europe’s industrial competence.”
To give a warm welcome to Leila, we sat down with her to get to know her better and learn more about her vision.
Who is Leila Faramarzi?
I am an energy and industry professional with nearly two decades of experience across the chemical, energy, and materials value chains in Europe. I have a PhD in chemical engineering and have built my career at the intersection of industrial development, technology deployment, and market design.
Before joining Cefic, I held senior roles in Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) project development and industrial strategy, working closely with heavy industry, utilities, and policymakers across Europe. My early professional years were shaped by hands-on exposure to large industrial projects, which shaped my interest in how complex systems technical, regulatory, and economic interact in practice.
Having lived and worked across several European cities, I have developed a strong interest in architecture and urban form, particularly modernist and early twentieth century movements. I am especially drawn to Art Nouveau in Brussels’ Saint Gilles and Ixelles, as well as post war modernism such as Berlin’s Hansaviertel, places where industrial ambition, social vision and design meet. Walking cities and observing how architecture and infrastructure shape daily life is something I share with my husband and remains a constant source of inspiration.
What led you to choose a career in the chemical industry? Have you always been passionate about chemistry?
My interest in the chemical industry developed early through direct exposure. When I was 20, I was a trainee at a large refinery and petrochemical complex near Arak, in central Iran. In an otherwise remote setting, the site looked to me as a dense, self-organising system: interconnected units, flows, controls, and utilities operating continuously. Observing how these elements worked together in practice at such massive scale, left a strong impression. There was a clear, functional elegance to it. That experience shaped my career, driven by an interest in system integration and industrial infrastructure.
Europe’s petrochemical sector is under pressure from global competitors and high energy costs. How do you see the role of Petrochemicals Europe in addressing this?
Yes, the industry is operating under exceptional pressure: high energy costs, capital constraints and a rapidly shifting geopolitical environment. These pressures are compounded by global capacity expansion that is increasingly misaligned with demand, intensifying competition across markets. At the same time, the sector remains critical to Europe’s industrial base, resilience, and autonomy. The challenge is not transformation itself, but the conditions under which it occurs. The opportunity lies in aligning climate ambition with competitiveness, restoring investor confidence, and creating predictable frameworks that enable companies to invest, innovate, and decarbonise in Europe rather than elsewhere.
Where do you see the greatest opportunities for European petrochemicals in the shift towards sustainability and circularity?
The opportunities for European petrochemicals lie in making sustainability and circularity work within existing assets in the short to medium term. With capital constrained and margins under pressure, value will come from integrating biogenic and recycled feedstocks into operating crackers without compromising yields, product quality, or reliability. Sites that can safely increase blending ratios, supported by targeted feedstock conditioning and process optimisation, can deliver near term emissions reductions at scale.
A second opportunity is leadership in credibility. As recycling loops multiply, control of carbon origin becomes harder and more critical. Robust Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV), consistent mass balance approaches, and harmonised Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can turn verification from a compliance burden into a competitive advantage with regulators, customers, and investors.
Finally, there is room for focused innovation that serves industrial reality. Technologies that improve feedstock quality, expand blending flexibility, or strengthen traceability directly address today’s constraints. Over time, these capabilities will also shape decisions on future assets.
Given Europe’s regulatory environment and competitiveness challenges, how should policy evolve to support the industry’s transformation?
Regulation plays a critical role in ensuring safety, environmental protection, product standards and market integrity. For Europe’s petrochemical industry, the key issue is clarity, consistency and proportionality across these objectives. When requirements become fragmented or evolve without sufficient alignment to operational realities, it becomes harder to sustain production in Europe. A stable and coordinated regulatory framework, developed through continuous dialogue between policymakers and industry, is critical to support competitiveness, resilience, and long-term transformation.
Do you have any final takeaways you would like to share with Cefic member and stakeholders?
I am looking forward to working at the interface of industry and policy at a moment of real consequence. Europe’s petrochemical sector is facing difficult choices, but it also retains profound expertise and strategic importance. My focus is on helping create the conditions for realistic, investable pathways that keep industrial activity, skills and value chains anchored in Europe.
Follow Leila Faramarzi on LinkedIn here