From Waste to Resource: Highly Efficient And Cost-Effective CO2 Utilization Will Spark A Revolution – What Can We Expect From Policy?

nova-Institute is proud to host the “5^th Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Fuels, Chemistry and Polymers“ in Cologne, Germany, on 6-7 December 2016. More than 250 participants from 30 countries and 20 exhibitors are expected.

Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) is a new technology to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals from CO₂ and renewable energies. Although first commercial plants have recently started to operate, most of the activities are still on pilot and demonstration level. Support from policy is strongly needed to speed up the implementation. This also requires visions about which role this new technology can play in the renewable energy system, for sustainable chemistry and for climate protection.

The first session will be: Policy and Visions

The conference will start with opening words from the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MIWF) (DE) and is followed by a short overview on the future of mobility by the EnergyAgency.NRW (DE). The comprehensive session on “Policy and Visions” represents a variety of top-class speakers and presentations. Visionaries, representatives from political bodies and the industry as well as world-renowned experts on CCU will be on hand at the event to present and discuss the latest European, national and regional policies, strategies and visions.

The first two talks deal with initiatives for speeding up worldwide CO₂ utilization: Dr. Issam Dairanieh, CEO of CO₂ Sciences, Inc. (USA) will present a big idea: The Global CO₂ Initiative which is taking on the grand challenge of the planet by developing innovative approaches to transform CO₂ into commercial products while at the same time contributing to sustainability and climate protection.

Climate-KIC (EU) and Covestro (DE) will introduce the flagship programme EnCO₂re, an innovation and market development programme for CO₂ re-use with a focus on polymers and chemical intermediates. Climate-KIC is Europe's largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate innovation that will contribute to mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.

Representatives of the European Commission – represented by DG Growth and DG Research & Innovation – will give a talk on the role of Carbon Capture and Utilization in the European framework and recent research activities.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will report on new developments in German CCU research and innovation.

Prof. Dr. Peter Styring from the University of Sheffield (UK) is one of the world’s experts in CCU with excellent expertise in CCU policy. He will give an introduction and overview of the vision to use CO₂ as a resource and a valuable building block for the chemical industry.

The University of Sheffield / SCOT (UK) will present major milestones of the SCOT project, including policy recommendations on how to include CO₂-based aviation fuels in the Emission Trading System (ETS).

Michael Carus, Managing Director of nova-Institut GmbH (DE) and Christian Schweitzer, CEO of bse engineering (DE) will present CCU in the framework of the coming reform of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). They will present the recently published “Petition for Integration of renewable CCU in the RED” and the feedback from policy makers to the proposals.

The session will end with a panel discussion. Speakers and participants are invited to join and discuss visions, political frameworks and latest activities to overcome hurdles in the field of CCU.

The full programme and detailed information can be found at www.co2-chemistry.eu/programme

The conference is under the patronage of Svenja Schulze, Minister of Innovation, Science and Research of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The conference is cooperatively supported by the premium partner EnergyAgency.NRW. It is sponsored by Silver Sponsor Covestro (DE), a world-leading manufacturer of high-tech polymer materials for key industries, and Bronze Sponsor Phytonix, developer of photosynthetic microbial cell factories.

Our participants

The international conference provides the ideal opportunity to present and discuss latest developments and strategies between the major players from the fields of sustainable fuels, chemicals and polymers based on CO₂.

The participants include interested experts from industry, associations, policy and civil society who wish to get a full picture of how this new and exciting scenario is unfolding. The conference is the opportunity to meet the right partners for future alliances.
The latest participants list is online!

Free booths for the first ten exhibitors

Take the extraordinary opportunity to present your company and your innovative products at the conference with an exhibition booth! Only a two-days’ conference entrance ticket is needed to get one of the ten free booths – five are still available. More information here.

Contact: Dominik Vogt, [email protected]