Coming Soon | Connected, Complex, and Carbonized: The Geographic Archetypes of the Petrochemicals Sector

Ella T. Jennings, Penny J Hamlin, Chris Hamlin and Jonathan M. Cullen

This article is under review.

The petrochemicals sector is known to be “hard-to-decarbonise” due to its innate requirement for oil, high greenhouse gas emissions, and highly interconnected and complex supply chains. The sector’s complexity makes it difficult to decipher how, when, and where to intervene. Every country has a different level of embroilment in the petrochemical sector, further complicating the solution space, with no one-fits-all policy recommendations. There have been no previous attempts in literature to perform a categorization on the petrochemical industry. This research fills this gap by examining the structure of the petrochemical sector to categorize countries into groups which will respond similarly to different decarbonisation solutions. The Geographic Archetypes of the Petrochemicals Sector (GAP) model categorizes 137 countries within a three-dimensional grid, with eight archetypes established at the corners. The characteristics of each archetype, and their implications for decarbonization strategies are discussed. The GAP model can facilitate, region-specific recommendations for decarbonization options and investments to have the most success.

Image: Maria Lupan on Unsplash