Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the third-largest plastic material, by volume, produced in the United States. It is used primarily in durable applications, notably in construction, but also in automobiles, medical products, and other sectors.

▪ The “Pathways” study concludes that the PVC value chain may be able to achieve 80 to 90 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 in the United States at a modest incremental cost using technologies approaching maturity today.

▪ The most important immediate way the federal government can take advantage of this opportunity is to support demonstration projects to assess the potential of decarbonization technologies at commercial scale in real-world conditions.

▪ A second near-term policy opportunity is to provide federal support for an initial build-out of infrastructure, such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines, that will be essential for decarbonizing the chemical industry.

▪ In the medium term, federal policymakers will likely need to offer tax or other financial incentives for early technology adoption and should also consider “clean PVC” procurement requirements for federally funded projects.

▪ In the long term, either carbon pricing or air pollution regulations will be needed to achieve widespread adoption of decarbonization technologies, along with trade policies that level the playing field for domestic producers.