Kemikalier och klimat - Kemikalieinspektionen

– Enhanced reuse and recycling of materials in non-toxic and resource lean
cycles diminish the need for juvenile fossil materials and chemical input.
– Halogenated substances with long lifetime in the atmosphere exhibit
both toxic and GHG properties. Measures to reduce the use of such
chemicals therefore support both environmental aims.
Climate investments also create potential conflicts to the goal of reducing toxic
pollution:
– Intensive crop growing for the purpose of producing e g biofuels is likely
to lead to increased use of pesticides.
– Biofuels, such as ethanol, contains chemical additives that might pose
toxic risks. One example is the persistent and suspected cancerogenic
substance MTBE, which is added to bioethanol used in Sweden. Other
substances, such as formaldehyde, might increase due to the
transformation to biofuels. The net effect is however uncertain, since also
fossil fuels contain these or similar substances.
– Low energy light bulbs contain mercury, leading to risks of exposure
under and after use.
– Rare earth metals is used to enhance energy efficiency in lightning,
photovoltaic cells and batteries. The resources of these materials are
scare and production is linked to toxic contamination. Photovoltaic
technology in particular tends to cause toxic chemical flows, e g of
cadmium. The production of polysilicon, a common material in current
cells, are known to generate significant amounts of hazardous waste
during production.
– Nanomaterials are increasingly used to meet energy efficiency demands.
Potential toxic effects of these materials are not well understood.
Harmful effects might become known after extensive and widespread use
over many years.
– Recycling of materials and products containing toxic ingredients
(triggered by energy and material efficiency targets) could cause these
hazardous substances to be dispersed even further throughout society and
the environment.
Proposed measures
How can society avoid these conflicts and make sure that climate
investments advance the work towards a non-toxic environment Chemicals
should be employed in the development towards more energy efficient
solutions. At the same time, the chemical industry also needs to i) replace
their fossil fuel feedstock with renewable materials, ii) increase the energy
and material efficiency of processes, and iii) optimize their use of waste
material. In combination with this, the chemicals sector (and other sectors as
well) must phase out their use of highly toxic substances (such as persistent,
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