Germany’s “Chemie Agenda 2045”: A Step Back for Chemicals, Climate—and Health

Germany’s “Chemie Agenda 2045”: A Step Back for Chemicals, Climate—and Health

Germany’s new Chemie Agenda 2045 (26 March 2026) is presented as a strategy to rescue the chemical industry. In reality, it signals something deeper:

👉 a pause on chemicals regulation
👉 a softening of climate ambition
👉 and a shift away from health and environmental protection

What’s really happening

REACH reform is effectively frozen
The government confirms no revision of the REACH Regulation—despite clear gaps on endocrine disruptors, mixture effects, and groups of substances like PFAS.

👉 “Stability” for industry means continued exposure risks for people and the environment.

PFAS: denial of the problem scale
Germany reiterates its opposition to a broad restriction of PFAS, framing it as a “blanket ban” that was never proposed.

👉 This position ignores the scientific and policy consensus that group approaches are essential for managing thousands of persistent chemicals effectively.

Climate policy under pressure
Proposals to weaken the EU Emissions Trading System aim to reduce costs for industry.

👉 But lowering ambition now risks locking in fossil-based production pathways and delaying the transition to safe and sustainable chemicals.

Industry-driven governance
A steering group, including VCI and IGBCE, will shape implementation.

👉 This raises concerns about regulatory capture at a critical moment for reform.

What is missing—and why it matters

❌ No action on EDCs (endocrine-disrupting chemicals)
❌ No progress on group restrictions (PFAS and beyond)
❌ No integration of transparency tools (e.g. DPP / DPIS)
❌ No link to circularity and safe material flows

👉 In short: no pathway to a toxic-free circular economy

Why is this bigger than Germany?

This agenda feeds directly into EU-level debates:

➡️ It strengthens calls for “simplification” over protection
➡️ It risks delaying the long-overdue REACH revision
➡️ It undermines momentum for PFAS and EDC regulation
➡️ It contradicts global efforts under the plastics treaty to address chemicals across the full life cycle

👉 You cannot solve plastic pollution—or enable circularity—without addressing chemicals in materials and products.

The core issue

Treating chemicals policy as a burden to be reduced misses the point:

👉 Chemicals are not just an industrial issue
👉 They are a health, climate, and justice issue

Freezing regulation today does not create certainty. It locks in harm, delays innovation, and shifts risks to people and less protected regions.

Bottom line

Germany’s Chemie Agenda 2045 risks setting the wrong precedent:

❗ weakening protections instead of modernising them
❗ prioritising short-term competitiveness over long-term resilience
❗ delaying the transition to safe, sustainable, and transparent chemical systems

If Europe is serious about a toxic-free environment and a circular economy, this is not the direction we need.

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