Sector & service specialists

The EU’s chemical policy focuses on promoting safe and sustainable chemicals, addressing substances of concern, and fostering industry collaboration. Seven of Brussels’ top 30 corporate affairs spenders are chemical companies – Bayer, ExxonMobil, BASF, Dow, Shell, BP, and Chemours. Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, employs over 160 staff and is among Brussels’ most respected trade associations, representing an industry that directly employs 1.2 million people and accounts for almost 15% of world chemical production. 

The competitiveness crisis in European chemicals has deepened. EU environmental regulations impose more than $20 billion in annual compliance costs on the sector, with up to 10% of capital spending in Europe now directed at regulatory compliance alone, according to figures cited by Cefic and confirmed by individual companies including BASF, which employs 250 people solely to manage REACH paperwork. Firms including Dow and LyondellBasell have been restructuring their European footprints, closing facilities as they respond to weak demand, high input costs, and regulatory pressure. 

Energy prices remain the central competitive challenge. Despite some relief since 2023, energy costs for European chemical producers remain structurally above those of US and Asian competitors. The Clean Industrial Deal, launched by President von der Leyen is the Commission’s primary response – promising to cut regulatory ties and make a clear business case for European production, including through an Affordable Energy Action Plan and the new Clean Industry State Aid Framework. The Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act, presented in March 2026, introduces ‘Made in EU’ procurement preferences and low-carbon requirements that should benefit domestic chemical producers. 

PFAS (‘forever chemicals’) regulation remains a major ongoing dossier, as does the broader REACH revision. The sector is navigating the simultaneous pressures of decarbonisation requirements, competitiveness concerns, and geopolitical supply chain disruption – making it one of the most intensive and technically complex Brussels lobbying environments.