CO₂ utilisation has the potential to help Europe become less dependent on fossil fuels by becoming more resource efficient. This, in turn, will safeguard the competiveness of Europe’s industries and provide Europe with a route to decouple economic growth from damaging environmental impacts, according to a report from the Smart CO₂ Transformation (SCOT) project

The report ‘A Vision for Smart CO₂ Transformation in Europe’ highlights three core reasons why Europe should accelerate the market development of its CO₂ utilisation sector. Firstly, CO₂ utilisation has the potential to become one of the major growth areas in Europe’s future low-carbon circular economy. Furthermore, CO₂ utilisation can help facilitate Europe’s energy transition and, finally, can make a significant contribution to achieving Europe’s aims for decreasing carbon emissions.

The report lists some of the possibilities that CO₂ utilisation will make available to consumers by 2030, these include:

• Buying a mattress made of foam produced from recycled CO₂;
• Building a truly carbon-negative house from mineralised wastes and CO₂ capturing cements;
• Filling a long-distance freight truck with CO₂ derived synthetic fuel;
• Traveling on a plane powered by a percentage of CO₂ derived aviation fuel;
• Eating foods produced with fertilizers derived from CO₂;

Living on an island that has a self-sufficient sustainable agricultural industry powered by renewable energy, green urea and synthetic tractor fuels all made from CO₂.

The Smart CO₂ Transformation (SCOT) project is a collaborative European project focussed on accelerating the market development of carbon dioxide utilisation. The project is supported by funding from the European Seventh Framework programme. In addition to the report A Vision for Smart CO₂ Transformation in Europe, the project will produce a Strategic European Research & Innovation Agenda (SERIA), outlining the research and innovation required to make CO₂ utilisation a European success story and providing guidance for future coordinated action at the EU level. It will also produce a Joint Action Plan (JAP) to define the short to mid-term collective actions needed to achieve the SERIA and, ultimately, the vision presented in its recent report.

For more information:
http://www.scotproject.org/