ENI goes green. Oil giant reached an agreement with labour unions and Sicilian authorities on upgrading its oil refinery near the town of Gela to make it environmentally friendly. Under the deal ENI will invest 2.2 billion euros in the 60-year-old refinery to make it eco-friendly.
Renewable Matter. This is the name of a new International magazine dedicated to the bioeconomy and circular economy, published by Edizioni Ambiente, the leading Italian publisher on green issues. Available in an online edition, as well as in print edition, the magazine – which this month celebrates its first release – will be published bi-monthly.
The opportunities for the forest sector in the transition to a bioeconomy, the challenges it faces and its essential contribution to combating climate change was discussed at the high-level seminar “Forests and the bioeconomy: future steps” organised by the ThinkForest forum at the European Parliament in Brussels on 13 November.
The Eurozone economy expanded by 0.2 percent in the third quarter, official data showed Friday, a slight acceleration that will do little to quell fears that a sluggish Europe is hurting world growth, Agence France-Press reported.
Perstorp, the world leader in ε-polycaprolactones (PCL) technology, marketed under the Capa brand, is stepping up its investment into the fast growing bioplastics market. “World demand is expected to continue to grow at over 20% pa for the foreseeable future, and Capa Thermoplastics are already playing a vital role in enhancing biopolymer performance and biodegradability across a range of bioplastic applications”, Swedish company writes in a note.
The European Union will need a new political framework for rolling out its bio-based economy by 2020 at the latest. The existing framework does not create sufficient market pull for implementing innovative, bio-based technologies. To say it are Michael Carus, Lara Dammer and Roland Essel in the latest policy paper of nova-Institute “Options for Designing a New Political Framework of the European Bio-based Economy – nova-Institute’s contribution to the current debate”.
Reverdia, the joint venture between Royal DSM and Roquette Frères, has earned the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label for its Biosuccinium bio-succinic acid. The USDA Certified Biobased Product Label verifies that the product’s amount of renewable biobased ingredients meets or exceeds levels set by US Department of Agriculture.
The bio-based materials and chemicals industry is poised to attract nearly $1 billion in investment this year, led notably by later-stage funding rounds, according to Lux Research. The estimated $974 million investment represents a 28% increase from 2013, suggesting companies that endured the waves of economic disruption have gained maturity and regained investors’ confidence.
Avantium was recognised in the distinguished Global Cleantech 100 list and awarded as company of the year in Europe and Israel. The company, which is a spin-out from Royal Dutch Shell and is headquartered in The Netherlands, was among a number of bio-based organisations, clearly demonstrating the power of innovation in the renewable chemical sector. The annual selection of 100 top cleantech companies is made from 6,000 companies from 60 countries.
Abengoa – the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors, generating electricity from renewable resources, converting biomass into biofuels and producing drinking water from sea water – promotes the use of sustainable transport every day through various measures that it has implemented. These initiatives include a pedestrian walkway that Abengoa constructed in 2012 to link the Los Bermejales and Bellavista districts with Campus Palmas Altas.
