British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has warned that Europe’s petrochemical and plastics industry faces collapse under current economic and regulatory pressures, arguing that high energy costs, carbon taxes and foreign competition have created conditions in which manufacturers “can’t make money.” In an interview with Sky News’ Ed Conway in Antwerp, Ratcliffe said that without urgent policy changes, domestic production will shut down and be replaced by imports from countries with higher carbon footprints.
“Nothing will survive in petrochemicals and plastics with these current conditions. You can’t make money,” Ratcliffe said. “We are first quartile in chemicals and plastics in Europe — probably the biggest petrochemical player in Europe today — and it’s not survivable.”
“Nothing will survive in petrochemicals and plastics with these current conditions.” pic.twitter.com/HNKMzbh3WX
— American Gazzete (@AmericanGazzete) February 12, 2026
Ratcliffe is the founder and chairman of INEOS, one of the world’s largest chemical producers and a major operator of petrochemical facilities across Europe, including in Germany, Belgium, France and the UK. The company is a significant player in plastics, synthetic materials and industrial chemicals that feed into sectors ranging from healthcare and agriculture to construction and automotive manufacturing.
He argued that European producers face structural disadvantages compared to competitors in the United States and Asia. Energy prices for European manufacturers, he said, are “three or four times” those in the U.S., while carbon taxes have “quadrupled since 2020” and free allowances have been cut in half. Under the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, heavy industry must purchase carbon allowances for emissions beyond allocated limits, a cost that has risen sharply as carbon prices increased in recent years.
Ratcliffe cited INEOS’s petrochemical complex in Cologne, Germany, as an example. “Our carbon tax bill for the facility is €100 million per year,” he said. “A facility that size in Texas pays no carbon tax, even if they sell all their product into the UK.” Over a decade, he said, that amounts to €1 billion diverted from reinvestment in the site. He added that incremental energy costs compared with the U.S. add another €150 million annually.
— American Gazzete (@AmericanGazzete) February 12, 2026
In practice, Ratcliffe said, “un-survivable” means companies cannot generate sufficient profit to maintain and safely operate complex industrial assets. “You need to be able to make enough money to invest in the assets and maintain the assets because they’re dangerous assets,” he said. Without adequate returns, he warned, facilities would close.
Industry data shows that Europe’s chemical sector has faced sustained pressure from high natural gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which disrupted energy markets and drove costs higher than in the U.S., where shale gas has provided a structural pricing advantage. Several major chemical producers have announced capacity reductions or site closures in Europe over the past two years. Ratcliffe said “100 chemical sites” have shut across the region in that period, reflecting what industry groups have described as a broader competitiveness crisis.
He argued that closures would not reduce global emissions but shift production abroad. “It will be replaced by imports from countries which don’t have the same regard for the environment, which are probably coal-based economies,” he said. “So their carbon footprint will be double ours — like China.” China is the world’s largest chemicals producer and has expanded capacity significantly, leading to global oversupply in some product categories.
Ratcliffe called for three primary changes: faster and stronger trade protections against dumped imports, reform of carbon taxation and more competitive energy pricing. In Europe, anti-dumping investigations can take up to two years to conclude, compared with shorter timeframes in the United States. He argued that delays leave European producers exposed to prolonged periods of below-cost imports.
“The chemical industry is fundamental to the way we live,” Ratcliffe said. “You can’t run hospitals without a chemical industry. You can’t feed people without it. You can’t make weapons or defend yourself without a chemical and plastics industry.” He framed the issue as one of economic resilience and national security.
He also said similar pressures apply in the United Kingdom, where manufacturers face high energy costs and carbon pricing. While INEOS’s Grangemouth facility in Scotland benefits from imported U.S. shale feedstocks and upgraded technology, he said investment levels would remain lower than in America as long as structural cost gaps persist.
“If nothing is done in the next five or ten years,” Ratcliffe said, European petrochemicals “will close down and we’ll bring imports in.”
His warning comes at a time when European policymakers are weighing how to maintain industrial competitiveness while pursuing climate targets. The outcome of that balance will determine whether heavy industry remains anchored in Europe or increasingly shifts to lower-cost regions abroad.
