Communicating industry challenges to policymakers

How we use evidence-based analysis to help Europe’s chemicals sector influence policy agenda

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Policymakers face a constant stream of competing demands, making it difficult for any one industry to secure meaningful attention. To break through, companies need more than opinions. They need a rigorous evidence base that crystallises the urgency of their challenges and compels policymakers to act.

Europe’s chemicals sector is a case in point. Once a cornerstone of industrial capability and skilled employment, the industry has been steadily weakened by mounting structural pressures, eroding its competitiveness relative to the United States, China and the Middle East. Many chemical companies have closed plants in Europe, leading to job losses with spillover effects on other sectors and threatening the long-term viability of this strategically essential industry.

Against this backdrop, chemical companies need to demonstrate the urgency of the situation to European policymakers and prompt decisive action to be taken to safeguard the sector’s future.

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The Challenge

One of the world’s largest chemical producers, approached Oxford Economics with a critical mandate: to provide a rigorous assessment of the pressures undermining Europe’s chemical industry and to illustrate what was truly at stake if the decline continued unchecked.

The company sought an independent, credible assessment that would clearly articulate the scale, drivers and urgency of the crisis; quantify the broader economic and employment implications of the sector’s decline and strengthen engagement with policymakers and stakeholders across Europe.

The Solution

Oxford Economics delivered a comprehensive, evidence-led assessment combining proprietary forecasts, economic modelling and stakeholder insights. By integrating robust forecasts with real-world insights, we created a compelling, evidence-based narrative that policymakers could not ignore.

Our approach combined:

Identifying the structural drivers of decline: We revealed the combination of factors eroding competitiveness: persistent energy cost gap, growing regulatory pressures and intensifying foreign competition.
Sector forecasts: By providing proprietary sector-level forecasts of macroeconomic indicators such as output and investment, our Global Industry Model revealed the sectors muted outlook.
Competitiveness analysis: Using our Global Industry Model, we benchmarked European energy and regulatory costs against global peers, particularly the US, China and Middle East. This exposed the widening disadvantage that is driving investment away from Europe.
Quantifying industry impacts: We measured how many jobs the sector supported—within chemical production, across its supply chain and in the wider economy through wage-funded consumer spending. We further modelled the implications of productions relocating abroad. Finally, we analysed how chemical inputs underpin strategically important industries such as healthcare and defence.
Stakeholder interviews: We conducted interviews with industry experts who provided insight into the operational realities facing chemical producers, contextualising the quantitative results with real-world insight.

The Result

The report delivered an immediate and powerful impact.

In the first week, it featured in 153 pieces of national media with over 4 million views. On LinkedIn, relevant posts received 150,000+ impressions on LinkedIn with 150+ comments and 700+ reposts. Several industry publications and the Financial Times approached us and our client with requests for interviews. Multiple European Commissioners asked to see the report, which enabled the company to enhance its influence and engagement with key policymakers.

This strong interest and engagement underscore the report’s success in shaping the policy conversation. By providing a clear, evidence-backed illustration of the economic stakes, we equipped our client with a compelling narrative that elevated industry concerns to the highest levels of European decision-making.