Energy efficiency improvement is an effective way of reducing energy demand and CO2 emissions. Although the overall final energy savings potential in chemical industry has been estimated in a few countries, energy efficiency potentials by concrete measures applicable in the sector have been scarcely explored and their associated costs are hardly analyzed. In Switzerland, the production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals exceeds all other industrial sec-tors in terms of energy use and CO2 emissions, and it accounted for 22% of the total industry's overall final energy demand and 25% of the CO2 emissions related to non‐renewable energy sources in 2016. In this study, the economic potentials for energy efficiency improvement and CO2 emissions reduction in the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industry are investigated in the form of energy efficiency cost curves. The economic potential for final energy savings and CO2 abatement based on energy‐relevant investments is estimated at 15% and 22% of the sector's final energy use and fossil fuel‐related CO2 emissions in 2016, respectively. Measures related to process heat integration are expected to play a key role for final energy savings. The economic electricity savings potential by improving motor systems is estimated at 15% of the electricity demand by these systems in 2016. The size of economic potential of energy efficiency improvement across the sector decreases from 15% to 11%for 0.5 times lower final energy prices while the size increases insignificantly for 1.5 times higher final energy prices. The additional power generation potential based on Combined Heat and Power plants is estimated at 14 MW for 2016.This study is a contribution to the so far limited international literature on economic energy efficiency measures applicable in this heterogeneous sector and can support policy development. The results for specific costs of energy efficiency measures can also be adapted to other parts of the world by making suitable adjustments which in return may provide useful insights for decision makers to invest in economically viable clean energy solutions.