In the following decades, the ambition to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 is undoubtedly one of the most crucial challenges for Europe and its member states. And although the final collaborative goal might be crystal clear, the journey to net zero carbon emissions can and will not go unnoticed: it will be cross-sector – impacting all levels of society, cross-vector – affecting all energy and industrial feedstock flows, and cross-border – requiring international collaboration.
North-Western Europe – and in particular the Antwerp – Rotterdam – Rhein–Ruhr Area (ARRRA) – is one of the largest worldwide hubs for energy-intensive industries and international logistics, a.o. maritime, aviation and long-haul road transport. The region has a well-implemented fuel, feedstock and electricity infrastructure – crossing national borders and serving the various industrial clusters.
Nevertheless, from a cross-vector point of view, opportunities to re-use the existing energy infrastructure and needs for new infrastructure are unclear. And this level of uncertainty is even higher from a cross-sector and a cross-border point of view, when considering its use and potential synergies for energy flexibility, storage and other needs that come with the transition to a low carbon European economy.
To tackle this problem applied research institutes TNO (The Netherlands), DECHEMA (Germany) and VITO/EnergyVille (Belgium) have decided to establish a public-private platform on trilateral industrial carbon-neutrality. A respective memorandum of understanding has recently been signed.
With the goal to foster international collaboration, TNO, DECHEMA and VITO/Energy will engage with stakeholders from industry, governments, regulators and infrastructure asset owners/operators to contribute both to an alignment of cross-border carbon-neutrality pathways, and to build a foundation for collective action. Furthermore, they will organize an active exchange of – and alignment on – data, assumptions, and methodologies to promote standardization, and initiate cross-border projects with a focus on industrial carbon-neutrality in the trilateral region.
The collaboration of the three institutes within the platform builds upon an already established and active collaboration through means of several nationally funded research projects during the last two years.
The platform welcomes interested stakeholders from industry, government, regulators or infrastructure asset owner or operators which are interested in understanding the cross-border implications of industrial carbon-neutrality or want to participate in one of the open knowledge exchange and network events. Interested parties are invited to get in touch with the respective the contact persons of the platform partners in their area.
