On the Path to Sustainability: Seeking New Competences to Face Challenges of Implementing Sustainable Processes. Polish Chemical Industry Case Study

Sustainable development (SD) is influencing every part of the global economy, there are though industries that are much more exposed to changes and challenges than others, especially industries in which safety plays a crucial role. Those are for instance agriculture and chemistry industries, and even more entities that are operating between those two industries or for them. In the presented study, we have investigated the need of so called “green competences” in the representation of the chemical industry in Poland, including big companies from the chemical industry that relate to the sustainability of farming industry: fertilizer producer, petroleum company and food packaging company. Presented study aimed at exploring the subject, thus we have used a qualitative approach and the focused group interview (FGI) to investigate participants’ awareness of SD policies influence on the processes in their companies and thus the need of seeking new competences answering their new needs. Content analysis was enhanced by using the MAXQDA Analytics Pro software. The study shows the emergence of new competences requirements related to implementing SD as well as the need for further investigation of this topic.