Berlaymont, European Commission’s Headquarter in Brussels
The European Commission proposed yesterday to set up 10 new European Partnerships between the European Union, Member States and/or the industry. The goal is to speed up the transition towards a green, climate neutral and digital Europe, and to make European industry more resilient and competitive. The EU will provide nearly €10 billion of funding that the partners will match with at least an equivalent amount of investment. This combined contribution is expected to mobilise additional investments in support of the transitions, and create long-term positive impacts on employment, the environment and society.
Braskem, the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and leading producer of biopolymers in the world, headquartered in Brazil, launched Dansko’s new line of EVA (Ethylene-vinyl acetate) clogs made with over 50% of Braskem’s renewable I’m green™ carbon negative EVA biopolymer.
British Airways is to power future flights with sustainable aviation fuel produced from sustainably sourced ethanol, as part of a new partnership with sustainable jet fuel company LanzaJet. The partnership, which reflects the importance the airline is placing on sustainability and its continued investment in sustainable aviation fuel, will see British Airways invest in LanzaJet’s first commercial scale Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Georgia, USA and acquire cleaner burning sustainable aviation fuel from the plant. It expects the fuel to be available to power a number of its flights by the end of 2022. In addition, the partnership will involve LanzaJet implementing early stage planning and design for a potential commercial facility for British Airways in the UK.
Boeing is setting an ambitious target to advance the long-term sustainability of commercial aviation, committing that its commercial airplanes are capable and certified to fly on 100% sustainable aviation fuels by 2030. Boeing has previously conducted successful test flights replacing petroleum jet fuel with 100% sustainable fuels to address the urgent challenge of climate change.
2020 has been a terrible year. And there is certainly no need to say why. The pandemic has clearly shown how urgent it is to solve the climate crisis and move towards a more sustainable economic and social model. Our liberal democracies and our community spirit have also been severely tested.
Our readers have voted. The most innovative bioeconomy CEO 2020 is Simão Soares, CEO of SilicoLife, the Portuguese company founded in 2010 which designs optimized microorganisms and novel pathways for industrial biotechnology applications. “Based on metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches, the company shortens the development time and costs of new highly effective processes for the production of specific target compounds such as chemicals, food ingredients or biopolymers.” Soares succeeds to Ken Richards (Leaf Resources), Tony Duncan (Circa Group), Jürgen Eck (BRAIN AG) and Alex Michine (MetGen), respectively most innovative CEO 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Chris Patermann at the first edition of the Bioeconomy Investment Summit, Brussels, 9-10 November 2015
“It will be very relevant that in spite of these upcoming challenges by the pandemic in its aftermath we do not lose out of sight that we all live on the same planet, or better said with respect to the bioeconomy in the same biosphere, and finally that we have to survive jointly. Never before the slogan “Think global, and act local” had more value than today”. Chris Patermann, the man who is considered in Europe as the “father” of the bioeconomy, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this long exclusive interviene, the former Director at the EU Commission talks about the Global Bioeconomy Summit, which was held in Berlin last November, and the bioeconomy after the pandemic.
“Bioeconomy in everyday life” @ BioBased World 2015 in Frankfurt am Main
The 2020 that is drawing to a close has been a really tough year for the world population. The pandemic has exposed many of the limitations of our economic and social model. It’s time for a profound change that cannot ignore the circular and sustainable bioeconomy. The circular bioeconomy is innovation, the result of the skills and passion of researchers and managers able to create value and new high-qualified jobs, reconciling economy, society and the environment. At the end of 2014 Il Bioeconomista launched a new initiative: The 10 Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEOs.
We have asked a panel of world bioeconomy experts to tell us the Chief Executive Officers that have stood out as the most innovative during the last year.
Now we ask you to choose the most innovative CEO responding to our survey (open till December 11 at 7.30 am, Western European Time).
The most innovative CEO 2016 was Ken Richards (CEO of Leaf Resources, Australia)
The most innovative CEO 2017 was Tony Duncan (CEO of Circa Group, Australia)
The most innovative CEO 2018 was Jürgen Eck (CEO of BRAIN AG, Germany)
The most innovative CEO 2019 was Alex Michine (CEO of MetGen, Finland)
This is the result of 2020 (in alphabetical order)
“The men and women I am announcing today will be core members of my national security, foreign policy, and law enforcement team. They are experienced and crisis-tested. They will keep us safe and secure. And, they are leaders who look like America and reflect my core belief that America is back and that we lead not just by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.
I’m honored to introduce these six extraordinary individuals:
“We are very committed to our purpose of creating a healthier planet for our children, working towards our climate goal of helping our customers around the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with our renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons every year by 2030.” Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this long exclusive interview, she talks about Neste, the circular bioeconomy and the green recovery after the Covid19.
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