Union Pacific slashed its embargoes from 1,081 such events in 2022 to 181 in 2023 and the Surface Transportation Board said that although the improvement "is a positive and welcome step," more work is needed to ensure reliable service. "We definitely support strong board oversight of railroads' use of embargoes to make sure they're not being misused," and welcome both UP's improvements and the STB's continued monitoring, said Jeff Sloan of the American Chemistry Council.

The US formed a new trade task force to tackle carbon emissions in global commerce and manufacturing. The task force will focus on reducing carbon leakage, preventing carbon dumping and addressing upstream emissions throughout supply chains while emphasizing a data-driven approach.

The prospect of a national climate emergency declaration is back in the cards as White House officials have reportedly revived discussions on the matter, although advisers are disagreeing about the effectiveness of such a measure. A climate emergency declaration would empower President Joe Biden to restrict crude exports, offshore drilling and oil and gas transportation.

BASF, SABIC and Linde are preparing to achieve regular operations at an e-cracker demonstration project at a BASF site in Germany that will produce olefins such as ethylene. The project will use renewable energy for its heating processes and test two different furnace technologies involving direct and indirect heating methods.

Braskem has agreed to work with Lummus on a joint project to evaluate the feasibility of electrifying one of Braskem's steam crackers in Brazil, with a focus on Lummus' SRT-e technology. "The SRT-e electric cracking heater leverages Lummus' proven Short Residence Time (SRT) technology modified to operate using electricity and incorporates a modular unit-cell design that can be replicated for plants to accommodate any commercial capacity," said the duo.

Manufacturers will need up to 3.8 million new workers by 2033, but the pipeline is likely to be short by around 1.9 million people, according to a report from the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte that emphasizes the need for technical skills. Strategies for recruiting and retaining more employees in the field include being responsive to workers' requests for flexible arrangements and offering an array of training opportunities.

Leaders can make themselves unnecessarily anxious by focusing too much on negative thoughts that lead to all or nothing conclusions or over-generalization of situations that prevent them from seeing opportunities and solutions, writes LaRae Quy. "If we practice a more balanced way of analyzing outcomes daily, it helps to dial down our level of anxiety when confronted with a more threatening situation," Quy notes.