Green Chemistry, New Economy (GCNE) plays a crucial role in making the chemical industry more sustainable. This initiative helps companies transition to a circular economy, where fossil resources are replaced by renewable and circular alternatives. The GCNE Monitor 2024 report by TNO Vector outlines the challenges, opportunities and the contribution of GCNE to this transition. By stimulating collaborations and making financing more accessible, GCNE contributes to a sustainable future for the chemical sector.
The chemical industry is one of the largest consumers of fossil raw materials and energy. In order to achieve climate goals, a transition to a circular economy is necessary. This means that companies must switch to bio-based and recycled raw materials. GCNE facilitates this transition by sharing knowledge, networking and providing financial support.
Collaborations and innovations
GCNE helps innovative business cases based on renewable raw materials and scales up sustainable solutions. The report GCNE Monitor 2024 by TNO Vector outlines the challenges, opportunities and contribution of GCNE.
The research uses various sources to gain insight into the development of the Green Chemistry ecosystem. The challenges, investments and growth phases of the companies are examined. Arnold Stokking: “The valley of death for start-ups and scale-ups of companies in the green chemistry sector is complex due to the major transition tasks and the competition with fossil fuels. Scaling up therefore requires patient money. However, the greening will certainly continue, which means that investments will pay off.”
Financing and support
One of the biggest challenges for companies that want to become more sustainable is access to finance. GCNE helps companies find subsidies and investments so that they can develop and scale up their innovative solutions. This lowers the threshold for companies to embrace circular production methods. A survey among companies in the ecosystem showed that they benefit from GCNE initiatives such as matchmaking, policy lobbying and technical support via the Green Chemistry Accelerator. Existing GCNE initiatives have increased the visibility of sustainable innovations and better connected companies with investors and policymakers. At the same time, much more effort is needed in these areas, and this monitor offers good tools for the GCNE team to continue.
Future perspective
Platform GCNE is committed to accelerating the greening of manufacturing chemistry by improving the innovation and entrepreneurial climate. To this end, GCNE wants to stimulate a portfolio of impactful initiatives – the game changers – that contribute maximally to this objective. Every year, it is monitored how the landscape of game changers develops and what impact the GCNE efforts have. In this way, GCNE can continue to steer on acceleration routes and provide advice to parties within and outside its community.
Some highlights from the report:
- Geographic clustering is important for players in the green chemistry ecosystem. The industrial regions in the Netherlands act as innovation hubs, each with their own focus areas.
- Most companies in this ecosystem get stuck in the early growth phases due to limited access to capital. This requires targeted support in this early growth phase.
- Companies in the green chemistry ecosystem are often at an advanced technological stage (TRL 6-8), but lag behind in market maturity (MRL 4-6). This calls for policies to stimulate market demand, collaboration in the value chain and support for commercial implementation.
- Companies in other sectors in transition experience similar growth phases in terms of duration, but often gain access to financing earlier in the process. Consistent, tailored support and patience are needed to successfully guide green chemistry companies through the growth phases.
Download the full report via this link: GCNE Monitor 2024.
Source: greenchemical.nl
