Under the pressure of climate change, material selection is becoming an important approach for companies to achieve carbon reduction and sustainable development. Materials run through the entire life cycle of products, from production and transportation to use and recycling. These processes directly affect energy consumption, carbon emissions, and resource utilization efficiency.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the 2025 State of the Global Climate Report on November 6. The report indicates that 2025 is expected to become the second or third warmest year on record, and the global warming trend shows no signs of slowing down.
The report from the World Meteorological Organization shows that from January to August 2025, the global near-surface average temperature was approximately 1.42 ± 0.12°C higher than the pre-industrial average level. After greenhouse gas concentrations and ocean heat content reached record highs in 2024, they continued to rise in 2025. The Arctic sea ice winter maximum extent reached a historical low, while Antarctic sea ice extent remained below average throughout the year. Due to ocean warming and accelerated glacier melting, the rate of global sea level rise is approximately twice that of the 1990s.
The past 11 years, from 2015 to 2025, have each ranked among the warmest 11 years in the 176-year observation record, and the past three years have been the three warmest years ever recorded.
The warming effect of El Niño conditions contributed to the rise in global temperatures in 2023 and 2024, but in 2025, it shifted to neutral/La Niña conditions. Therefore, the global near-surface average temperature from January to August 2025 was lower than that of 2024, while 2024 was approximately 1.55°C ± 0.13°C.
The reason climate change is concerning is that it is no longer a distant future issue, but is already changing the world in ways visible to our eyes. With the continuous increase of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, global warming is intensifying. As the largest “heat reservoir” on Earth, the ocean absorbs more than 90% of the excess heat, causing ocean heat content to continue reaching record highs. Rising ocean temperatures not only accelerate glacier melting and sea level rise, but also disrupt monsoon systems and ocean current stability, making regional climates increasingly difficult to predict.
When the climate system becomes disrupted, extreme weather events are no longer occasional events but become trend-based risks. Heavy rainfall, extreme heat, and super typhoons that previously occurred only once every several decades may now repeatedly occur within only a few years or even within a single year. Droughts and floods alternate in different regions, placing greater pressure on agriculture, water resources, energy security, urban infrastructure, and even food production chains. The latest report released by the World Meteorological Organization has clearly pointed out that under the current emission levels, limiting global warming to within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the coming years is becoming almost unrealistic. This means that we must take immediate action to control temperature increases within a range that can still be reversed and restored.
Against this background, promoting material innovation and industrial carbon reduction is particularly important. Choosing more environmentally friendly, lower-carbon, longer-lasting, or recyclable materials has become a practical necessity. Therefore, materials such as PK and PCR, which combine low-carbon value and sustainable potential, are receiving increasing attention and becoming an important step for companies toward “green manufacturing” under climate pressure.
Why Can Materials Also Affect Climate?
Daily plastics and synthetic materials are not only synonymous with lightweight and durability. Their production, use, and disposal are all accompanied by significant energy consumption and carbon emissions. If we can promote more environmentally friendly and high-performance new engineering plastics, we can achieve significant benefits in lightweighting, durability, and recycling efficiency, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of the entire industrial chain.
Why Can Materials Help Address Climate Change?
Under the pressure of climate change, material selection is becoming an important approach for companies to achieve carbon reduction and sustainable development. Materials run through the entire life cycle of products, from production, transportation, and use to recycling. These processes directly affect energy consumption, carbon emissions, and resource utilization efficiency.
Potential of Green Materials:
With increasing environmental awareness and the development of the circular economy, more and more industries are adopting environmentally friendly and high-performance materials.
In terms of material innovation, WDF has developed two green pathways: using PK materials to achieve front-end carbon reduction and high-performance applications, and using SustainX® PCR series materials to promote circular recycling and resource closed-loop systems.
PK, as a thermoplastic engineering plastic copolymerized from carbon monoxide, ethylene, and propylene, does not contain harmful substances, has low VOCs, and can reasonably reduce the carbon footprint compared with other engineering plastics, which is in line with the direction of green engineering plastics that the market is seeking. Meanwhile, SustainX® PCR series materials achieve carbon reduction value by reusing post-consumer plastics, allowing resources to return to the industrial chain.
Lightweighting and Energy Saving:
Applying PK or PCR materials in automotive, home appliance, industrial, and other fields can replace metal or traditional plastic components. This makes products lighter, thereby reducing energy consumption and improving fuel efficiency. Lightweighting helps achieve energy savings and reduce carbon emissions.
Improved Durability:
Improving material service life means reducing resource waste. The excellent wear resistance and chemical resistance of PK mean longer product service life, effectively reducing replacement frequency and minimizing repeated resource consumption.
Looking Ahead
Material innovation is an important starting point for carbon reduction. The combination of PK and SustainX® PCR series materials builds a more complete green pathway between front-end energy saving and back-end recycling for industries. WDF will continue to promote materials toward sustainable value, providing the industry with material choices that combine performance and environmental responsibility, and jointly addressing global climate challenges.
Knowledge Expansion
Environmental Impact Differences Between Global Warming of 1.5℃ and 2℃:
Source: Official media / Online news
