Editor’s note: Welcome to What’s Going On? This is a quick look at news impacting the chemical industry from the lens of outside sources, including our parent company Endeavor Business Media’s many brands.
- In an article from EHSToday, author Adam Freedgood notes that with political, regulatory and economic climates in flux, it’s important to proactively manage risks. Freedgood analyzes seven areas undergoing the greatest change, including decarbonization, GHG emissions reduction and target-setting.
Federal mandates were never a significant factor in companies’ decarbonization programs. Thousands of companies have a mandate from their investors, shareholders, customers, and employees to measure and take action to reduce GHG emissions over time. - A WaterWorld article explores the EPA’s deregulatory actions, including reconsideration of regulations on power plants, the oil and gas industry, wastewater regulations for coal power plants and coal ash programs. Its sister publication, Wastewater Digest, reports on another EPA revision that is evaluating “modern technologies and management strategies to provide regulatory flexibility for oil and gas wastewater.”
The produced water, a biproduct of oil and gas drilling, could be treated for beneficial reuse, including AI and data center cooling, irrigation, fire control, power generation and ecological needs. - Greg Slabodkin, editor of Pharma Manufacturing, points out that a Montreal-based biopharma company with deep ties to the U.S. market is feeling vulnerable to potential tariff threats.
With its reliance on contract manufacturers on both sides of the border for its most important product, Theratechnologies finds itself caught in the crossfire of an intensifying trade war.
According to the article, Theratechnologies CEO Paul Lévesque says some of its active ingredients cross back and forth between the U.S. and Canada several times.
“Every time that it crosses the border there’s an additional component that is added in the other country,” Lévesque told Pharma Manufacturing. “The implication is that it’s going to be taxed when it comes to Canada and when it goes back to the U.S.” - The folks over at Oil & Gas Journal say global oil demand is expected to accelerate in 2025 despite economic uncertainty. However, the outlook remains clouded by economic uncertainty.
“The macroeconomic conditions that underpin our oil demand projections deteriorated over the past month as trade tensions escalated between the U.S. and several other countries. New U.S. tariffs, combined with escalating retaliatory measures, tilted macro risks to the downside,” International Energy Agency said. - On the lighter side of tariff news, Food Processing's Dave Fusaro raises a beer as he reports on Canada’s “oldest and largest independent brewery” claiming it will keep you in Mooseheads until the Trump administration is over via its Presidential Pack of 1,461 bottles — the number of days in four years.
- In the interesting concept category, Scimplify, a full-stack platform for specialty chemicals, says it could change how specialty chemicals are developed, manufactured and distributed worldwide.
"Global supply chains are shifting like never before," says Sachin Santhosh, Co-Founder at Scimplify. "For decades, specialty chemical manufacturers have invested millions in facilities that can only produce a handful of compounds, often running at partial capacity while lacking R&D capabilities. This creates a paradox: excess capacity alongside supply shortages. We've flipped this model, connecting our scientific teams with hundreds of manufacturing plants to create a responsive ecosystem that can adapt as market needs shift."
