Horizon Europe on track: EU institutions reach political agreement

On Wednesday 20 March 2019, the European Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe. This political agreement, under the current Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, puts the EU institutions on track for a timely launch of Europe’s most ambitious Research and Innovation programme to date.

SusChem welcomes this political deal and fully supports the central role given to the innovative and enabling role of industry and sustainable chemistry in Horizon Europe.

Sustainable chemistry provides the building blocks for many of the Key Enabling Technologies and is a key solution provider for societal and UN sustainability goal challenges.

SusChem is committed to ensuring that Sustainable Chemistry technology priorities are fully considered in the ‘Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness’ pillar of the new programme as well as the Public-Private-Partnership programmes and R&I Missions.

Dialogue and consultation with SusChem Stakeholders is already underway for the revision of technology priorities covered under the SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA), which will serve as its input into Horizon Europe.

For a more detailed analysis of the deal please read this Science Business article.

UN Global Chemical Leasing Award

In January 2018, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) launched the Global Chemical Leasing Award 2018, which will take place on 6 November in Vienna, Austria.  The award will be part of the Green Chemistry Conference 2018 within the Trio Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) programme, “Smart and Sustainable Europe”, to be held during Austria’s EU Presidency.

Companies and individuals are invited to submit applications to the Global Chemical Leasing Award 2018 award under three categories:

• Case studies (implementation in companies) that is open to users and suppliers of chemicals. To be eligible for application, the company must have already started to implement Chemical Leasing concepts.
• Special innovation for case studies with technical solutions that have demonstrated the potential to define a new state of the art for a certain use of chemicals (i.e. Circular economy, non-tox-solution, etc.), and also including Start-ups, implemented business plans, etc.
• Research and development activities including new products, new processes, patents, business concepts papers, lectures, curricula, etc. that drive adoption of Chemical Leasing forward. Possible topics are widespread and could address Green and Sustainable Chemistry, Sustainable Industrial Parks, Sustainable Cities, but also business management and legal issues, etc.

The 2018 award is jointly sponsored and supported by UNIDO, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism (BMNT), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), and the German Environment Agency (UBA).

The deadline for the applications is on 15 August 2018. You can find all the information in the awards webpage or download a leaflet on the award here.

What is Chemical Leasing?
Chemical Leasing is a service-oriented business model that shifts the focus from increasing sales volume of chemicals towards a value-added approach. The producer mainly sells the functions performed by the chemical and functional units are the main basis for payment.

Within Chemical Leasing business models, the responsibility of the producer and service provider is extended and may include management of the entire life cycle.

Chemical Leasing strives for a win-win situation. It aims at increasing the efficient use of chemicals while reducing the risks of chemicals and protecting human health. It improves the economic and environmental performance of participating companies and enhances their access to new markets.

Key elements of successful Chemical Leasing business models are appropriate benefit sharing, high quality standards and mutual trust between participating companies. See the UNIDO video below.



For more information about Chemical Leasing, please visit the UNIDO Chemical Leasing website and become part of the Chemical Leasing Community on Facebook  and on LinkedIn where you can read their latest article: ‘Chemical Leasing – The Solution to Managing Chemicals Sustainably: 12 Things You Need to Know'.

Council endorse Raw Materials EIP, KETs

Yesterday (11 October) at its meeting in Luxembourg the Council of the European Union on Competitiveness endorsed the launch of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials and called on the European Commission to develop and finalise the partnership’s Strategic Implementation Plan by the end of 2013. SusChem is part of the consortium that developed the proposal for the EIP. The Raw Materials EIP will support the development of innovative technologies, possible regulatory measures and standardisation and public procurement initiatives.

“SusChem is very happy to see the endorsement of the EIP,” said Antonia Morales Perez, Innovation Manager at Cefic, who has coordinated the ETP’s work in this area. “SusChem has been heavily involved in the process of the preparation of the EIP, in particular leading the work package on substitution of raw materials. However many other aspects of the partnership are also of great interest for us including extraction and recycling activities. Policy and international cooperation complement the topics to be further developed in the Strategic Implementation Plan.”

SusChem is also a member of the Alliance 4 Materials (A4M) organisation that brings together a number of European Technology Platforms with a strong materials agenda to collaborate and coordinate activities.

Conclusions
The Council conclusions welcomed the European Commission’s Communication entitled "Making raw materials available for Europe’s future wellbeing ─ Proposal for a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials" that was launched at the end of February this year.

The EIP is seen as a key contribution to the successful implementation of the Innovation Union, the Integrated Industrial Policy for the Globalisation Era, and the Resource-Efficient Flagship initiatives.

The Council is also looking for the Commission to appoint representatives to the High-level Steering Group that will oversee the Raw Materials EIP that represent a good balance between industry, environment and research, including all relevant fields of expertise in the raw materials value chain. The Commission will report on progress in developing the Raw Materials EIP by the end of July 2013.

Chemical innovation is key
Our modern society is dependant on a range of raw materials, including industrial minerals and metals used in high technology applications that support our lifestyle and infrastructures. But many of these raw materials are not easily available or only found in areas geographically remote from Europe. All are an essentially finite resource: we only have one planet to live on.

Four sustainable solution strategies can contribute to improving the future security of supply for these raw materials. The activities are collectively known as the ‘4Rs’:

• Reduce – use less of the material to deliver the same product effect
• Reuse – enable the recovery of a material to deliver the same effect repeatedly
• Recycle – enable the recovery if a material to be reprocessed with no loss in value
• Replace – substitute with a material, process, technology or business model that delivers the same (or better) effect

Any new solution should also reduce the overall environmental impact and be safe to users and consumers.

All these solutions will require sustainable chemistry to achieve them and will contribute to the medium to long term security of supply for raw materials in Europe. They will also boost resource efficiency and develop new business areas such as advanced recycling processes.

KETs
The Council conclusions also strongly endorsed the Commission’s strategy on Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) and its Communication entitled "A European strategy for Key Enabling Technologies ─ A bridge to growth and jobs". This policy area is also of intense interest for SusChem and a critical element for the future competitiveness of Europe.