Launched in January 2026 as part of the Commission’s competitiveness agenda, the Critical Chemicals Alliance (CCA) [2] is tasked with identifying which chemicals and production sites are considered “critical” for Europe’s economy. Its recommendations are expected to inform future industrial policy and public funding measures, including state aid and other support.
‘Captured! The Critical Chemicals Alliance: by industry, for industry’ reveals that the Alliance has been structurally dominated by incumbent chemicals industry interests from the outset. Rather than ensuring decisions are guided by the public interest, the Commission has created a process in which the companies and lobby groups that stand to benefit from future support are shaping the criteria for receiving it.
Drawing on lobby documents, official records, and insights from participants, the report finds that:
- The concept originated in an industry-backed French proposal before being rapidly embraced by the Commission
- The European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) occupies influential leadership positions, while industry enjoys an overwhelming majority in the membership of the Alliance, outnumbering civil society 16 to 1 [3]
- Civil society organisations have been excluded from decision-making roles, from the Steering Board to various working groups, and sidelined throughout the process
- The Alliance is moving at remarkable speed [4], limiting meaningful consultation and public scrutiny
- The process risks locking in support for harmful chemicals and polluting production models while reinforcing the Commission’s wider deregulation agenda
Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner, says:
“The evidence is abundantly clear: the chemical pollution and climate crises need urgent tackling. Yet the Critical Chemicals Alliance is symptomatic of a wider problem under the European Commission, where concepts, structures, and processes are designed by industry for big business rather than people and the planet. In this case, the incumbent chemicals industry and its allies stand to benefit from public support because, despite their obvious vested interests, they have been given a privileged role in deciding what chemicals the EU should consider “critical”. And too many of these substances are harmful to our health and the environment”.
Tatiana Santos, European Environmental Bureau, Head of Chemicals Policy, says:
“Instead of letting vested interests shape industrial policy and public spending, the EU should define what is ‘critical’ in the public interest. Public funding should drive safer chemicals, cleaner production, and a phasedown of petrochemicals, not support business as usual. Chemical pollution is a major public health and environmental crisis, so public money should only be given with strict conditions ensuring harmful production is phased out and public value is delivered, because public money must serve the public good – surely the least taxpayers should expect.”
Rather than rewarding the status quo, the Commission and member states should base public policy and funding on the essential uses of chemicals – those that are necessary for health, safety, and the functioning of society – while speeding up the phase-out of harmful and unnecessary chemicals.
ENDS
For media inquiries, please contact
Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner
@email; +44 7960 988096
Marcella Via, Corporate Europe Observatory press officer
@email; +32 489 622233
Tatiana Santos, European Environmental Bureau Head of Chemicals Policy
Beatriz Ortiz Martínez, European Environmental Senior Communications Officer for Chemicals
@email; +34 6526 95003
Notes to editors
- [1] You can read the full report here
- [2] The Critical Chemicals Alliance was launched by the European Commission in January 2026 as a follow-up to the Chemicals Industry Action Plan.
- [3] The most recent Critical Chemicals Alliance membership list counts 293 members. 13 are civil society organisations (CSOs), 4.4 per cent of the total. There are also 124 companies and 86 trade associations, making up 72 per cent. Industry (companies and trade associations) outnumber CSOs 16 to 1.
- [4] The timeline of the Critical Chemicals Alliance is as follows:
December 2024 French Government proposal, influenced by France Chimie’s EU election demands
July 2025 Announced as part of Commission’s Chemical Industry Action Plan
January 2026 Launch of Critical Chemicals Alliance with first General Assembly
February-June 2026 Intensive working group activity
October 2026 Second and final General Assembly