Biotechnology application for CCU

This destination will support the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’.

The destination supports the EU Green Deal^[1] and contributes to Europe’s competitiveness and sustainable prosperity by supporting the development of a more resilient circular economy in line with the EU Competitiveness Compass^[2], the announced EU Clean Industrial Deal^[3] and the EU Circular Economy Act.

It aims to increase market demand for secondary materials and establish a single market for waste, whilst enhancing Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products. It will also support the implementation of the framework conditions set by the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy.

Furthermore, the destination aims to facilitate the emergence and uptake of innovative, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains that play a key role for the defossilisation (reduction of feedstocks of fossil origin), climate neutrality and strategic autonomy of our economy, in line with the new EU bioeconomy strategy as well as with the New European Bauhaus.

In addition, this destination supports several key EU policies including the industrial strategy, the European Chemicals Industry Action Plan^[4] and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation^[5] and its working plan.

It also contributes to the EU Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the SME strategy, the communication on safe and sustainable by design framework, the sustainable blue economy, the European Ocean Pact^[6], the European Water Resilience Strategy^[7], the European Life Sciences Strategy, the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, and the Nature Restoration Regulation.

Further support extends to the CAP, the EU forest strategy for 2030, the proposal for a Regulation on a forest monitoring framework, the EU proposal for a directive on soil monitoring and resilience, and the Vision for Agriculture and Food.

The destination supports unlocking the unique assets for research and innovation of the EU outermost regions, in line with the EU strategy for outermost regions^[8].

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Expected impact: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway contributing to “achieving healthy soils and forests, as well as clean air, fresh and marine water, whilst ensuring water resilience and the transition to a clean, competitive and circular economy and sustainable bioeconomy”, and more specifically to one or more of the following expected impacts:

• Improved climate change adaptation and mitigation through the transition to a more sustainable and circular economy and bioeconomy, underpinned by biotechnologies and sustainable industrial solutions, such as carbon capture and utilisation and recovery of materials, water and energy.
• Industrial competitiveness, sustainability and strategic autonomy are improved through the development of safe, sustainable, circular and/or bio-based value chains. This is done by promoting the efficient and circular use of secondary materials and water, fostering the multi-functionality of forests, and ensuring the sustainable supply of critical resources from land and sea.
• Living conditions for individuals and communities are improved through innovative, affordable and sustainable safe and sustainable by design products and services based on circular and/or bio-based solutions while demonstrating a reduction of environmental and climate pressures.
• Advanced societal transformation based on a systemic approach, as well as people’s involvement and integration of social sciences and humanities for fair, safe, sustainable and circular value chains, sustainable consumption patterns, environmental justice, gender equality and social inclusion.

[1] The European Green Deal - European Commission

[2] https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/competitiveness-compass_en

[3] Clean Industrial Deal - European Commission

[4] European Chemicals Industry Action Plan – European Commission

[5] Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation – European Commission

[6] The European Ocean Pact - European Commission

[7] Water resilience strategy - European Commission

[8] COM(2022) Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions.

Expected Outcome:

Successful proposals under this topic should contribute to the objectives of the EU Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Certification (CRCF) Regulation and the Clean Industrial Deal, allowing industrial operators to use a sustainable carbon source as feedstock. They should facilitate innovators to scale up promising solutions in scope of the Strategy for European Life Sciences and the Biotech Act, also supporting the implementation of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy as well as the EU strategy on research and technology infrastructure.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• innovative and improved purification and conversion of gaseous carbon is developed and scaled up to provide feedstock for industrial processes promoting circularity and climate neutrality;
• advanced industries – applying life sciences technologies and biotechnology - contribute to the climate-neutrality objective.

Scope:

Increasing industrial productivity and competitiveness should not entail unsustainable exploitation of resources. This makes the sustainable sourcing of non-virgin-fossil carbon (i.e., carbon from sustainable sourced biomass, gaseous carbon, waste) essential for European industries, especially considering the production of chemicals and materials.

Proposals should address the following activities:

• review the up-to-date progress of R&I in the use of life sciences-based technologies for Carbon Capture and Use (CCU) phases taking into account the capture of gaseous carbon - from any industrial emission and the atmosphere – and its purification and conversion into products. Provide an assessment of their technological readiness, strengths and weaknesses and their potential of carbon storage in products;
• develop and test innovative and effective life sciences-based technologies, either synthetic biology and/or living microorganisms, to concentrate, purify and convert gaseous carbon efficiently into suitable feedstock to produce products. Products in scope exclude food/feed and biofuels/syngas;
• perform a preliminary assessment of the environmental impacts, the social and economic viability and business case of the developed technologies, including their scalability and the identification of markets for their output bio-based products;
• demonstrate one or more technology(ies) among those developed and tested, with the highest environmental, economic and social sustainability;
• evaluate and disseminate the replication potential of the demonstrated solution(s), including technical and economic/financial recommendations for SMEs and industrial operators in general;
• assess the feasibility of establishing a spin-off to implement the results from the best technology(ies) demonstration.

In the review of up-to-date progress of R&I as in the first bullet point, international cooperation is encouraged, as well as in the development of innovative technologies and evaluation of their replication potential. Synergies with activities under Cluster 5 and the Circular Bio-based Europe (CBE) Joint Undertaking are encouraged.

Projects funded under this topic should collaborate, for example within the activities concerning the exploitation of the IP of the developed technologies and at least within the dissemination activities.

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