Business / Market Trends | American Coatings Association Coatings Protect. Coatings Preserve. Coatings Provide. Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:10:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 /wp-content/uploads/2019/09/cropped-fav-150x150.png Business / Market Trends | American Coatings Association 32 32 Global Megatrends Shaping the Paints and Coatings Industry /coatingstech-magazine/articles/global-megatrends-shaping-the-paints-and-coatings-industry/ Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:10:54 +0000 /?post_type=ct_articles&p=256239 By Crystal Morrison, The ChemQuest Group, Inc.

Understanding the forces shaping the paints and coatings industry requires looking beyond short-term market fluctuations to the larger societal and technological trends that influence innovation and demand. While economic cycles, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical shifts affect the industry in the near term, long-term megatrends continue to guide the direction of coatings technology, investment priorities, and strategic decision making.

In a two-part series published in CoatingsTech in 2025, ChemQuest explored the megatrends influencing the coatings industry in North America and globally.1 Those trends remain highly relevant today. However, the economic and market environment in which coatings companies operate has become more complex. Slower growth across several chemical value chains, increasing global competition, and margin pressure are forcing companies to carefully balance cost discipline with continued investment in innovation.

Despite these challenges, the longterm megatrends shaping the coatings industry, including environmental sustainability, health awareness, mobility transformation, digitalization, and demographic change, continue to drive technological progress and market opportunities worldwide.

Environmental Sustainability and the Circular Economy

Environmental sustainability remains the most powerful driver of innovation in the paints and coatings industry. Governments, corporations, and consumers are increasingly demanding products that reduce environmental impact while maintaining or improving performance. A key concept shaping sustainability initiatives is the circular economy, which emphasizes designing products and materials to minimize waste, extend product lifecycles, and enable recycling or reuse of materials at the end of life.

Bio-Based Raw Materials

One of the most visible sustainability trends in coatings is the increasing use of renewable raw materials. Biobased materials can reduce reliance on fossil resources while lowering the carbon footprint associated with coatings production.

Bio-based coatings can be derived from a wide range of renewable resources, including soybean oil, corn, sugarcane, and algae. Soybean oil has long been used in alkyd resins and remains one of the most widely used renewable feedstocks in coatings formulations.

Advances in bio-based acrylic chemistry and polyurethane precursors are expanding the range of coatings applications that can incorporate renewable materials while maintaining high-performance properties.

Advanced Recycling Technologies

Another emerging area of sustainability innovation is molecular recycling, sometimes referred to as chemical recycling. Unlike mechanical recycling, which can degrade polymer properties over time, molecular recycling breaks down complex materials into their fundamental building blocks, allowing them to be reused as high-quality raw materials.

For coatings manufacturers, these technologies are particularly valuable because they enable recycled materials to meet the stringent purity and performance requirements necessary for specialty applications.

Low-Carbon Coatings Technologies

Coatings manufacturers are investing heavily in technologies that reduce emissions during both manufacturing and application. Powder coatings, waterborne formulations, and high-solids systems continue to gain traction as companies seek to minimize volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and reduce energy consumption.

Recent product launches illustrate the continued innovation in this area. PPG introduced its ENVIROCRON® Extreme Protection Edge Plus powder coating system, designed to provide enhanced corrosion protection and improved edge coverage for metal substrates while supporting lower-VOC finishing processes.

As regulatory pressure and corporate sustainability commitments intensify worldwide, demand for lower-carbon coatings technologies is expected to accelerate.

Health Awareness and Safer Chemistry

Growing awareness of the potential health and environmental impacts of chemicals is another megatrend shaping coatings innovation. Increased regulatory scrutiny, improved scientific understanding of chemical exposure, and greater consumer transparency are driving demand for safer materials and formulations.

One of the most widely discussed examples of this trend is the growing concern surrounding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These materials have historically been used in coatings formulations to provide properties such as stain resistance, water repellency, and durability. However, their environmental persistence and potential health impacts have led to increasing regulatory scrutiny.

Several major chemical companies have announced plans to eliminate PFAS-containing materials from their product portfolios. Companies including 3M, Clariant, and Micro Powders committed to phasing out PFAS from their products by the end of 2025, signaling a broader industry shift toward safer alternatives.

Increasing health and environmental issues are accelerating the development of new additives and formulation strategies designed to deliver similar performance characteristics without the environmental concerns associated with PFAS.

Antimicrobial Coatings

Health awareness has also contributed to growing interest in antimicrobial coatings. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development and adoption of coatings designed to inhibit the growth of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms on treated surfaces.

While antimicrobial coatings were initially focused on healthcare environments, their use is expanding into public infrastructure, transportation systems, and consumer products. For example, PPG has introduced antimicrobial powder coatings designed for use in mass-transit vehicles and infrastructure to reduce microbial growth on high-touch surfaces. These coatings are designed to help improve hygiene in environments where large numbers of people interact with shared surfaces.

Industry forecasts suggest that antimicrobial coatings could experience strong growth over the coming years, as demand for hygienic surfaces increases.

Continue reading in the May-June issue of CoatingsTech

]]> Global Trends, Part 1: NORTH AMERICA /coatingstech-magazine/articles/global-trends-part-1-north-america/ Fri, 02 May 2025 18:16:43 +0000 /?post_type=ct_articles&p=251422
µţ˛âĚýCrystal Morrison, Ph.D., and Eric Casebolt, The ChemQuest Group, Inc.

Understanding the trajectory of the coatings industry is essential for business leaders and strategic marketers, but it’s equally important to assess whether innovations and product launches align with the megatrends shaping the market. Aligning a company’s innovation portfolio and strategic initiatives with these megatrends ensures long-term relevance and impact, avoiding the pitfalls of short-lived gains.

Numerous lists of megatrends are available; though the wording may vary, they typically converge on similar themes. Drawing from our extensive experience collaborating with companies across the global coatings industry value chain, ChemQuest has identified the following key influences:

  • Environmental sustainability
  • Health awareness
  • Mobility
  • Digitalization
  • Demographic shifts
  • Urbanization
  • Globalization and “glocalization”
  • Social instability and inequality

The megatrends with the most bearing on the North American market include environmental sustainability, health awareness, mobility, and digitalization. While the others also shape the industry, their impact is more pronounced outside North America and will be discussed in the July-August 2025 issue of CoatingsTech.

Environmental Sustainability

Environmental sustainability involves designing, producing, using, and disposing of materials to minimize environmental harm while preserving resources for future generations. This megatrend has historically shaped the coatings industry and will remain a key driver for years to come. The term “circular economy” has become a mainstay for coating and raw material suppliers, and two key parts of companies’ circular economy initiatives are the use of bio-based materials and recyclability.

Bio-based Materials

Demand for bio-based raw materials is growing as consumers favor products from renewable resources over petroleum-based alternatives. Beyond reducing reliance on finite fossil reserves, bio-based coatings often offer a lower carbon footprint and greater biodegradability than petrochemical options.

This consumer appeal drives companies to prioritize bio-based efforts in coatings marketed toward consumers. One example of this is AkzoNobel’s Rubbol WF 3350, launched in February 2025, which is a waterborne wood coating with 20% biobased content. AkzoNobel describes the product as a sprayable opaque coating that is suitable for interior and exterior use. The company claims it matches the high performance standards of equivalent coatings, even in the harshest weather conditions.

Another example is Liquitex’s Bio-Based Heavy Acrylics, marketed to artists as “the world’s first bio-based pro-grade fine art paint.” This North American brand has replaced 50% of its acrylic resin with bio-based materials and substitutes other ingredients with renewable alternatives where available, pledging further adoption as options emerge.

Bio-based coatings draw from a variety of sources, such as corn, soy, sugarcane, algae, and other once-living organisms. A common strategy is to replace part of the binder (or its precursors) with bio-based materials, enabling significant renewable content. Soybean oil, a longstanding raw material in alkyd binders, exemplifies this approach.

Acrylic manufacturers are also advancing, with BASF’s 2-Octyl Acrylate (2023), made from castor oil with 73% bio-based content, and Arkema’s ethyl acrylate (2023), produced solely from bioethanol with 40% bio-carbon content. These monomers enable the development of polymers for various coatings applications, from decorative paints to industrial finishes.

Molecular Recycling

Often referred to as “advanced” or “chemical” recycling, molecular recycling is another topic that is gaining traction in the coatings industry. This term refers to processes that break down complex materials such as polymers into their fundamental building blocks using chemical reactions. This process yields raw materials that rival virgin feedstocks in purity and performance, unlike mechanical recycling, which often degrades quality.

Given the mass-balance approach typically used to track recycled content, here we’ll focus on companies pioneering molecular recycling and the coating materials leveraging their outputs. Two North American leaders in this space are Eastman Chemical Co. and Trinseo.

Eastman’s Polyester Renewal Technology (PRT), recently scaled to initial production, employs methanolysis to convert polyester waste into basic monomers. These recycled monomers feed into new polyesters for applications like coatings, with Eastman reporting a 20-30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossilbased processes.

Similarly, Trinseo’s polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) depolymerization facility in Rho, Italy, opened in June 2024, uses advanced chemical recycling to transform PMMA waste into high-purity recycled methyl methacrylate (rMMA). Headquartered in Wayne, Pa., Trinseo maintains that its rMMA matches virgin material performance with a significantly lower carbon footprint. This rMMA can be used to develop acrylic resins and latex binders for a variety of applications, including paints and coatings.

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