Can chemistry serve as a catalyst for a circular rebound?

Together with EURACTIV, we hosted a roundtable to incentivize dialogues among diverse stakeholders on how we can work together to advance the circular economy. Of course, chemistry plays a vital role! I am sharing my opening remarks below.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Pulling ourselves out of the devastating economic crisis, while also facing the imminent threat of climate change.. this is the context and it won't be easy!  BUT this is an opportunity to HIT the "reset" button... 

Allow me now to paint a picture for you … a picture of the future I believe is possible if we all reinvent progress together and mobilize the power of science. 

Imagine with me 

Imagine an electric bike as light as a feather, which makes your daily commute healthier and more enjoyable.

Imagine driving your kids to school in an electric car so quiet it feels like the ideal cocoon for beautiful conversations... and later they hop onto a green hydrogen bus with their classmates, for a day trip to the natural science museum, which may be a little more noisy, but so much fun. 

Imagine flying around the world without burning a single drop of oil. In fact, Bertrand Piccard and his partner did precisely this with their solar-powered aircraft in just 23 days, not only much faster than the character in Jules Vernes' trip in "80 days around the world", but also and certainly with less greenhouse gas emissions.

Imagine HOW - in the next decade - technology and innovation will enable lightweighting, circularity will bring us closer to carbon neutrality. 

For now, looking at this year - 2020 - the Earth Overshoot Day already fell on August 22nd! This was the date where we have used-up all the capacity of our planet’s ecosystem available for a single year.

Think about it: there has been far less pollution and consumption due to the worldwide lockdowns during this unprecedented global pandemic and yet humanity still managed to use-up all planetary resources meant for 12 months, in just 8 months.

The real question becomes—HOW our industries and above all the mother of all industries: the Chemical Industry, CAN be part of the solution... And how we will tear-off that label which calls us: THE PROBLEM?

Because yes, the industry has been part of the problem but it is also part of the SOLUTION, because without industry there is no reinvention, and without industry there is no future.

All of us scientists, academia, industrialists, investors, authorities, NGOs, citizens of all generations… need to wipe the slate clean and bring forward the solutions that the world needs. 

Chemistry is the key

Our industry is moving from coal to biomass - I spoke recently with Norbert; a Plant Manager in Rheinberg, Germany who is creating a renewable ecosystem in his site. With the support of the authorities, Norbert found a partner and asked him to collect wood waste within a 100km radius of his plant, even up to The Netherlands, to source biomass. This is a big deal for a company that has relied on coal power for the past 150 years.

We're also taking agricultural waste and giving it a new purpose - My colleague Peter and his team, responsible for our Flavoring business, is able to derive natural organic vanillin from discarded rice husks. This not only serves consumers desire for more natural ingredients, it is also a perfect example of circularity. Think about it: if you reuse the husk, it’s no longer waste. We are turning trash to treasure. 

We’re also turning toilet water to tap - and don't laugh - this is real and you can drink it! At least I did. Let me explain…

Chemistry can take grey waste water and make it so pure that you actually need to add minerals to give it taste that is accepted to humans! Let me tell you about an example of circularity that puts a smile on my face everytime I think of it… When I was working in the United Arab Emirates, my team developed a filtration system to process waste water from a country's largest dairy producer. After treatment, the wastewater was sprayed as a cool shower to keep the herd comfortable during the hot summer season and therefore producing more milk. I really like the idea that I contributed to making thousands of cows happy in the heat of the Middle East… using their own, recycled water.

Here is another one. We are bringing the farm to your shower. Last year, I was hosted in the home of a farmer, in the town of Bikaner, India, who introduced us to her community.  We were in the middle of an arid land, close to the Pakistani border. A particular bean grows here, called Guar, which resists drought. In fact, 70 percent of the world’s guar is produced in the state of Rajasthan, India. The seeds from the Guar bean are used as a thickening agent, which are formulated in natural shampoos. 

Soon afterwards, we introduced blockchain technology to create a fabulous, traceable sourcing chain that spans all the way from the farm of my hosts in Rajasthan to your comfortable shower at home.

In other words: from farm to fork, from farm to beverage and from farm to bath.

Sustainability starts with us

This all stems from a deeply-rooted personal conviction... I grew up in a happy yet very frugal home in Casablanca… I learned that I did not have the luxury to waste - and sustainability started in my home with the conservation of water, energy and food. What I did to preserve the limited resources in my youth, we must ALL do now.

We simply must do things differently. We shouldn’t settle for making incremental changes until we reach a new status quo – but the other way around: think of a new world, a new vision of success. And then make it happen.

These examples I gave earlier are just a few anecdotes of how chemistry is already playing a vital role in building circularity. In fact, we are very proud to be a partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation - who is helping us - and many other companies -  re-think, re-design & build a positive future through the framework of a circular economy. Which brings me to my final point...

We cannot do it alone  

Private companies alone simply cannot finance such fundamental shifts: they require resources and government support. I am convinced that tomorrow’s rebound will come from public-private partnership investments in green technology. I’m thinking for example of the European Battery Alliance, where the EU has helped to drive innovation for competitive battery manufacturing in Europe for cleaner mobility.

We all agree that we’re racing against time – And more than ever I am optimistic as we navigate this unprecedented crisis. The new EU Green Deal gives us an incredible opportunity to transform the chemical industry and to mobilize science, technology and resources to fight climate change.

We also need citizens to understand and advocate for this change - and that's where civil society comes in.

So let us find these new paths towards a more sustainable future. Let us unleash the potential of the ingenuity of our people at the service of a truly circular economy through the power of science.

Let us build this future, together. We are the very last generation that has the luxury to make a choice.