INEOS is betting big on Europe’s industrial future with a €4.5 billion investment in a next-generation petrochemical complex in Antwerp, even as rivals scale back and head for the US and China.

 

The company’s Project ONE will be a world-scale cracker designed to produce ethylene with dramatically lower emissions—cutting carbon output by two thirds compared to the average European facility. It is being positioned as the most energy-efficient cracker of its kind on the continent.

 

The investment lands at a critical moment for Europe’s chemical sector, widely regarded as one of the continent’s economic pillars. But that foundation is under strain: around 200 chemical plant closures have been recorded across Europe in the past three years alone, as energy costs rise and competitiveness weakens.

 

While many firms are pulling back or relocating investment elsewhere, INEOS is doubling down—promoting Project ONE as the only new cracker to be built in Europe in three decades.

 

The company argues the facility will do more than produce chemicals. Ethylene, the key output, is described as a foundational building block for the entire European chemical value chain, feeding industries linked to healthcare, pharmaceuticals, food production, clean water, communications, energy systems, and defence manufacturing.

 

In its framing, the stakes are strategic. Without these chemicals Europe cannot run hospitals, feed people, or build armaments. It is essential for national security.

 

INEOS also positions the project as central to Europe’s climate ambitions, arguing that large-scale, efficient industrial investment is necessary both to cut emissions and to maintain industrial independence in critical supply chains.

 

Yet despite its scale and stated climate benefits, Project ONE has received no backing from EU funding programmes, including the Innovation Fund, which describes itself as “the EU fund for climate policy, with a focus on energy and industry” and claims to “bring to the market solutions to decarbonise European industry and support its transition to climate neutrality while fostering its competitiveness”.

 

INEOS has questioned whether such criteria are being applied consistently, warning that if flagship low-carbon projects like Project ONE are excluded, the EU risks undermining its own industrial transition agenda.

 

Attention is now turning to the European Commission’s newly announced ETS Investment Booster, which is intended to accelerate industrial decarbonisation. INEOS is urging policymakers to ensure the scheme supports real-world projects at scale.

 

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO of the chemicals major, said, "If Europe is serious about supporting investment in decarbonisation of its industry, then this fund needs to support real-world, real-time investments such as Project ONE, otherwise industry will lose any remaining confidence in Europe and Project ONE risks being Europe’s last meaningful investment in the one trillion Euro chemical industry. Project ONE needs support from Europe.”