Chemical Industry Weekly News Round-Up, Dec. 10

This Week on CW:

At GPCA 2010 this week in Dubai, attendees discussed the strong rebound in petrochemicals demand, tempered by coming supply additions. The need for innovation to meet sustainability challenges was also a major topic.

Air Products has raised its by for Airgas to $70/share, as one investor in the target company urges a sale.

Bayer is moving closer to commercializing its CO2-to-Polyols technology, based on a zing catalyst, the "holy grail" for using CO2 as a raw material, the company says.

FMC is set to close its phosphates plant at Huelva, Spain by the end of this year.

Around the Web:

At the Cancun climate talks in Mexico, China, India and Brazil, pressed the U.S. for deeper emissions cuts, Bloomberg reports.

Also in Cancun, a draft of an agreement that calls for developed nations to reach peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2015 is making the rounds, in Business Week.

This one was a couple of weeks ago, but the New York Times Magazine has a fascinating look at Chinese consumerism – or the lack thereof.