Project description
Improving bio-based industries life cycle sustainability
Industrial activity is responsible for 51 % of greenhouse gas emissions in EU. A series of policies based on the Green Deal aim to reverse this trend. The EU-funded CALIMERO project will analyse case studies across five bio-based sectors to find solutions and improve their overall environmental, economic and social performance of industries. New methodological developments to evaluate the sustainability of bio-based industries will be implemented using the Product Environmental Footprint guidelines as a starting point. Multi-Objective Optimization frameworks will be used to tune operational parameters in order to improve industrial processes’ sustainability impacts. Finally, guidelines and recommendations will be addressed to industry, policymakers and the scientific community.
Objective
European industries remain a significant source of pollution (51% of GHG emissions), with unsustainable production processes impacting adversely on climate change, natural resources availability, air/water/soil quality, ecosystems services and biodiversity. Thus, a transition to a sustainable and strong bioeconomy is one of the European main priorities as part of the EU Industrial Policy Strategy, the European Green Deal, the 2030 Climate Target Plan and the Bioeconomy strategy. CALIMERO will analyse bio-based sectors industrial case studies provided by partners (construction (ECIA), woodworking (CESEFOR), textiles (TECHTERA, EREKS), pulp & paper (ESSITY) and biochemicals (BIMKEMI)) to find feasible solutions to improve their environmental performance while considering also economic and social aspects. A deep analysis and improvement of the bio-based sectors sustainability performance by sustainability experts (CTA, WELOOP, LIST, IVL NEOVILI), followed by the simulation and modelling of relevant case studies through bio-engineering expertise (DTU) will be conducted to improve current Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment methodologies, based on the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guide. To that end, missing characterization factors to assess biodiversity loss, impacts to ecosystem services and toxicity effects of sector-specific substances will be developed. The allocation methods of biotic circular systems will also be improved and the time dimension for lifecycle carbon footprint assessment will be considered. Material criticality and socio-economic indicators will also be included to cover the three pillars of sustainability. The improved methodology will be applied via a Multi Objective Optimization framework that will optimize industrial simulations with sustainability criteria. Finally, guidelines and recommendations addressed to industry, policy makers and scientific community will be developed for industrial sustainable development and monitoring.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringtextiles
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsbioeconomy
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
28021 Madrid
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.