Curbing industry’s carbon emissions

The energy-intensive nature of upstream chemical manufacture, from cracking to petrochemical production, gives it a huge carbon footprint. Other common large-scale processes, such as steam reforming methane to make hydrogen, create carbon dioxide as a by-product, in addition to the emissions from the energy. While multiple efforts are afoot to commercialise carbon capture and storage techniques to prevent CO₂ from escaping into the atmosphere, this is, effectively, burying the problem. It would be better to stop generating CO₂ in the first place, or use it to create useful raw materials.