BRITAIN stands to lose a staggering 140,000 jobs in the chemicals industry in the long term without a plan to become fossil-fuel free, an expert report warns today.

Bearing a grim resemblance to nearly 3,000 planned job losses in Port Talbot as Tata Steel switches to electric-arc technology, policy makers are said to be failing to plan for the chemical sector’s decarbonisation.

A lack of government support has been blamed for output across the energy-intensive British chemicals industry falling by 9 per cent and employment by 7 per cent in 2023, said the Green Alliance think tank.

In the report, industry experts said that besides the government’s efforts to cut emissions using carbon capture and storage (CCS), other policies essential to a greener chemicals industry are lagging far behind, such as support for electrification and lowering industrial electricity prices closer to the EU average.

David Bott of the Society of Chemical Industry said: “The UK has a long history of innovation and expertise in chemicals, but the government has never really understood our industry.

“It’s now under threat from international competitors offering better incentives to pursue a greener future, and better-aligned regulation.”

Chemical giant BASF’s managing director Thomas Birk added: “A strong and competitive chemicals sector needs to be at the centre of our ambitions for a net-zero transition.

“To achieve this, the UK sector needs a clear vision for its future, delivered through an industrial strategy and leveraging the UK’s R&D leadership position as well as supporting secure and resilient supply chains.”

Green Alliance senior policy analyst Liam Hardy called for “deliberate government policy” to safeguard the industry’s jobs and contribution to Britain’s net-zero goals such as requiring a certain amount of carbon in chemicals to come from greener sources through a “green carbon mandate.”