The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) held joint meetings between 29 November and 1 December. The main topics were the regulation on binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions from 2021 to 2030 contributing to climate actions following the Paris Agreement, an exchange of views with the citizens’ spokesperson for environment and climate matters in the Conference on the Future of Europe, the presentation of the Circular Economy Package, and lastly, the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) – which a delegation of ENVI members headed by César Luena will visit between 14-17 December.

The key theme of the  29 November ENVI-ITRE meeting was methane emission reduction. Members of both committees discussed the proposal to reduce methane emissions in the oil, gas and coal sectors.

The co-rapporteurs, Silvia Sardone (ENVI) and Jutta Paulus (ITRE) presented the main elements in their draft report on the legislative proposal that follows the EU Strategy to reduce methane. Their comments included the introduction of high standards of monitoring, reporting and verification of methane emissions, while keeping Europe’s competitiveness in the energy sector in consideration and safeguarding industry interests.

The following meetings on this topic will be held next year, on 1 March 2023 (Brussels).

The European Commission revealed that the recipient of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Horizon Prize for Artificial Photosynthesis is the University of Tokyo in cooperation with the Japanese INPEX Corporation.

EuChemS has worked on topics related to Artificial Photosynthesis: in 2016, it released a white paper on Solar Driven Chemistry, in which it examined the opportunities solar energy can provide to drive chemical reactions. The recognition of Artificial Photosynthesis by EIC is an important milestone of solar driven chemistry, which EuChemS described as a “visionary concept” with great potential.

The goal of the competition was the development of a fuel production system that relies on combining sunlight, water and carbon. The winning project produced renewable methane gas powering an engine during the 72 hour demonstration held in Ispara, Italy, during the summer of this year. Artificial photosynthesis, using which this project functions, is an emerging technology which holds a potential to reduce relying on fossil fuel usage. It is on the radar of the EIC since 2017, the year when it opened the contest up.

The Award Ceremony was held on 5 December. From the 22 nominees, three finalists were selected: the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), France, the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, alongside the winning Tokyo University. The European Union contributes to an international initiative named Mission Innovation Challenge ‘Converting Sunlight to fuels and chemicals’ by offering this prize, which is, amongst other similar prizes, calls for innovative solutions for major contemporary challenges.

On 8 December, the European Commission adopted a safety and sustainability assessment recommendation created by the High Level Roundtable on the Implementation of the Sustainable Chemicals Strategy – of which EuChemS is an active member of.

The recommendation, titled “Establishing a European assessment framework for ‘safe and sustainable by design’ chemicals and materials” primarily focuses on health and environmental protection from hazardous materials. It lays down a framework to be used in Research and Development, which is expected to define a “safe and sustainable by design” criteria, that will guide consumer and food contact producers amongst others to ensure the safety of their products. Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel and Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius both positively commented on the Commission’s adoption.

The document considers the aims of major EU strategies and frameworks such as the Green Deal and the Sustainable Finance Strategy to connect the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability with them, while also linking it with already existing policy frameworks related to chemistry, such as the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) programme.

The High Level Roundtable on the Implementation of the Sustainable Chemicals Strategy was set up by the Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission. EuChemS was invited to participate in the roundtable in 2021. President Floris Rutjes and Secretary General Nineta Hrastelj represented European chemists in the 3 roundtable meetings (and in the preparations for them) in the past years – and will continue to do so in the future.