Are toxic chemicals going out of fashion?

They say all good things must come to an end.

Even though the oil industry is far from finished – and the term peak oil seems, at least for the time being, to have gone out of fashion due to fracking – I doubt many people would call it a sector with a bright outlook.

Serving as a perfect example of this is the Norwegian oil fund, one of the world’s largest funds, which manages the revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources. Somewhat ironically, it announced a month ago that it would sell its oil and gas holdings. “It’s about lowering the risks”, Norway’s Minister of Finance explained.

This perceptual change is not only due to oil being a finite resource, but also of course its role in climate change.

So even though the USA has increased its oil production dramatically in recent years, and demand is high, the oil industry still feels somewhat like a losers’ club. I seriously doubt this stigma can ever be shaken off.

“This is not a development that is dreamed up in a rosy, rainbow-decorated NGO dream factory”

This got me thinking; can we expect such a change of perception in the chemical sector? Chemicals per se could of course never go out of fashion – but toxic chemicals – I’d say that the answer to that is yes. It’s already happening.

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