For many years, the EU chemical industry has made strenuous efforts to improve energy efficiency, reducing its fuel and power consumption per unit of production. In 2005, energy consumption per unit of production (including pharmaceuticals) was 42% lower than in 1990. In other words, over the last 15 years the chemical industry has succeeded in increasing continuously its output while at the same time keeping its energy input constant: consequently, the chemical industry lowered its energy intensity by 3.6% annually.

However, energy efficiency is subject to decreasing returns: the higher the level of energy efficiency attained, the more difficult it becomes to make further improvements. This led to a slight slow down of the increases in energy efficiency in recent years.