Essential Chemistries: Providing Benefits Across the U.S. Economy

As part of the U.S. Chamber's Essential Chemistry for America initiative, the Chamber engaged third-party experts in environmental and economic policy to evaluate the economic and fiscal impacts of specific sectors reliant on essential fluorochemistries across the U.S. economy.

This report examines the dependence of seven critical U.S. sectors, including aerospace manufacturing, data centers, defense equipment and systems, energy transition, health care, mobility, and semiconductors on essential fluorochemistries, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances. Essential fluorochemistries are vital for numerous technologies due to their reliability, effectiveness, and durability.

Top Report Findings:

• Today’s fluorochemistries, including many PFAS, possess a unique combination of properties to repel water, withstand heat, and many other critical properties that make them durable, efficient, versatile, reliable, and often irreplaceable across critical sectors.
• Fluorochemistries are essential to American innovation. They support critical manufacturing sectors, provide well-paying jobs, and enhance our national security.
• More than 6 million Americans work in sectors dependent on fluorochemistries, providing over $2.4 trillion in output and nearly $1 trillion in GDP.
• These essential chemistries are produced and used in safe and effective ways that minimize risk to health and the environment.
• Estimates are that the transition to potential replacements could take decades.