FM Report: 85% of Chemical Leaders View Decarbonization as a Resilience Opportunity

LUXEMBOURG, 7 September 2026 – Europe’s chemical sector is turning one of its biggest challenges into a competitive advantage, with 85% of industry decision-makers viewing decarbonization as a resilience opportunity rather than a cost constraint, according to Resetting Resilience, a new report released today by commercial property insurer FM.

Drawing on a double-blind survey of 500 European chemical industry decision-makers and 50 insurance brokers, FM’s report examines how firms are balancing competing demands, where new vulnerabilities are emerging and what distinguishes proactive organizations from those still responding to change as it happens.

While 85% of chemical decision-makers cite decarbonization and ESG reporting requirements as their greatest external challenges, the findings reveal a new era of industrial innovation across Europe. Companies are adapting early and using data to prioritize investments, reduce downtime and convert compliance into commercial leadership.

“Regulation is sprinting ahead and those who don’t plan for that will eventually feel it on their balance sheets,” said Andrew Bryson, senior vice president, engineering and research at FM. “If you invest in resilience, our data shows that it delivers significant returns.”

The Pace of Change Is Creating Coverage Blind Spots

As environmental and operational requirements drive major process changes, retrofits and new technology implementations, the pace of modernization is introducing new risks.

Risk Outpacing Assessment: 60% of respondents report that operational changes are accelerating faster than their internal risk assessments can accommodate.

The Insurance Gap: As a result of these operational shifts, 43% of chemical companies report experiencing gaps in their insurance coverage over the past two years.

The Engineering Imperative: To safely manage these retrofits and help protect new capital assets, 95% of chemical leaders agree that engineering-led loss prevention is “very important” or “critical” to maintaining competitiveness and insurability during the transition.

“Many of the largest losses that we see occur not because risks are unknown, but because change outpaces governance,” added Katy Shannon, operations senior vice president, chemical operations manager at FM. “Workforce turnover, new processes, new feedstocks, energy transitions—all potentially introduce complexity faster than organizations can absorb it.”

Brokers Champion ‘Three-Way Dialogues’ to Unlock Capacity

The rapid transformation of the chemical sector is also shifting expectations of the insurance industry. With organizations moving beyond simple risk transfer, brokers are adapting their strategies to secure stable capacity for their clients.

Securing Coverage Is a Challenge: 82% of brokers cite securing coverage for clients in the chemical industry as a challenge.

A Scarcity of Expertise: 94% of brokers report struggling to find insurers who fully understand the complex regulatory shifts impacting the sector.

The Power of Partnership: To overcome this, 80% of brokers are prioritizing proactive, "three-way dialogues" between clients, brokers and specialist carriers to ensure risk profiles match modernized operations. Furthermore, 60% are actively seeking out specialist carriers with on-site risk engineering capabilities to help clients reduce disruption and justify premiums.

The Resetting Resilience report highlights that resilience is increasingly shaped by how early risk considerations are embedded into operational and strategic decision making. Organizations that include risk considerations as an integral part of their transformation are best placed to navigate uncertainty, help reduce the likelihood or impact of supply chain bottlenecks, and mitigate the risk of unexpected downtime.

Download the full Resetting Resilience report and learn more about how the European chemical industry is responding to regulation, disruption and rising risk, here.

About FM

Established nearly two centuries ago, FM is a leading mutual insurance company whose capital, scientific research capability and engineering expertise are solely dedicated to property risk management and the resilience of its policyholder-owners. These owners, who share the belief that the majority of property loss is preventable, represent many of the world’s largest organizations, including one of every four Fortune 500 companies. They work with FM to better understand the hazards that can impact their business continuity to make cost-effective risk management decisions, combining property loss prevention with insurance protection.

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