Dr Beata Kviatek’s Post

It's been an absolute joy working with Carla Robledo and Rodrigo Pinto Scholtbach in their capacity as co-leads driving the work of the International Hydrogen Trade Forum (IHTF), a key activity of the CEM's Hydrogen Initiative. Launched last year at CEM14 in Goa, the IHTF under the leadership of Netherlands and UAE this year has become a leading platform for dialogue to facilitate international hydrogen trade. As Carla summarises (and Google translate suggests :) ) .... "The IHTF consists of 16 members, including 15 governments and the EC. The main goal is to organize an open dialogue between future exporting and importing countries. We are at the dawn of a new international trade. That is why it is important to develop an open, transparent and fair global hydrogen market involving key players." https://lnkd.in/ds2tkhnT Eng Nawal Alhanaee UNIDO Smeeta Fokeer Petra Schwager José Miguel Bermúdez MenéndezPer-Anders Widell

Attending conferences is a great way to stay informed about the latest trends in your own industry; in this case CO2 and CC(U)S ☁ 🌲 🗻 Carbon capture and storage has a part to play in the transition to net zero 2050. Different applications and technologies are available. This way we don't have all our eggs in one basket 🥚 Next to spreading out the chances, technology has to applicable at different scales to be implemented in a wide array or markets. Downscaling of CC technology, is inherent to our mission at BrewRight 🍻 There is always a chance to learn from other perspectives, more so the ones you don't fully agree with compared the ones you agree with 🤔 By creating understanding for other viewpoints and evaluating the pros and cons realistic solutions can be found. For example, a key element that is often forgotten in the CO2 discussion to reach the national and international goals is the 'U' for utilisation in CC(U)S. In our case the use and capture of biogenic CO2 🌳 from your own supply chain to be used in a circular manner. With utilisation included the applications and implementation possibilities increase 📈 and thus the chance to reach the goals successfully 🌟 This is a short recap of the CO2 Conference, which I attended (in Dutch).

This report below a bit of a long read, but quite interesting. Something I have been working on the past months is on the topic of thermal desalination. A commercial thermal desalination technology (MED) could have the capacity to use the heat of electrolysis to produce almost double the water needed by the electrolyser (when the electrolyser runs at full capacity), so considering the current pressure on water demand in NL, it seems like electrolysis could also lead to production of lower-cost water than if we used Reverse Osmosis to produce water for human consumption. I mean, it's not a large amount, though: 1 GW of electrolysis with its corresponding MED would require ~50 l/s water, so when operating at full capacity it would be able to produce ~100 l/s, leaving 50 l/s for further use. 50 kg/s is roughly 1,5 million m3/year, which would be enough to give freshwater to 35 thousand people. The main downside is that an MED connected to an ELY can only produce extra water when it's operated at above 50% production rate, when the heat availability is higher than the required for water production, which might mean that the freshwater production might be significantly lower. Still, it's yet another nice possibility that can come from hydrogen production, where having a good overview leads to good decision making. #hydrogen #greenhydrogen #hydrogeneconomy

Good to see that what is happening with Swedish forests gets attention in other parts of Europe - with the current disastrous environmental policies of the Swedish government, hope for pressure and legislation to change the destructive forestry methods is very much depending on the EU. Hence the critical importance of this summer's elections to the European Parliament.

💧 The EU has been busy creating the conditions for its internal hydrogen market in recent years - and Member States started rolling out their individual market and infrastructure plans as well. The Belgian regulator CREG - Commission for Electricity and Gas Regulation - Belgium has just released a report on the main challenges that need to be overcome to support the start-up of their hydrogen market and limit the risks surrounding the development of transport infrastructure. Trinomics, together with LBST has supported CREG's assessment by investigating hydrogen market dynamics in its neighboring countries - France, Germany and the Netherlands - in terms of: 📜 national strategies, specific support measures and market developments, and 🏗 plans for hydrogen networks (current/planned regulation, developments, financing) and by discussing the implications of these policies for the Belgium hydrogen sector, including the identification of eventual best practices for mitigating financial and other risks for developing pipeline hydrogen infrastructure. ❗ Despite ambitious plans, significant uncertainties are present for renewable & low-carbon hydrogen supply towards 2030 and beyond - due to which DE, NL and BE all face significant risks for deploying hydrogen networks. To read more, find our analysis here: https://lnkd.in/d8Xjr_MK

  Philip Eyckmans represented Nyrstar at the roundtable 'Towards a Net Zero Energy and Climate Infrastructure' organised by VNO-NCW in Brussels on 21 March. The discussion focused on the need to prioritise a sustainable energy infrastructure in the coming years. This is essential if Europe is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. European industry's progress depends on affordable access to clean energy and raw materials and on keeping and building processing capabilities in Europe. If investments go elsewhere and we have to import from regions with a higher ecological impact, that is detrimental to the environment, to our industry, to our people and to our strategic autonomy. That is why we need a strong European industrial policy and a level playing field in Europe to support industry and keep it here.   Cooperation between industry, governments and other stakeholders is essential to accelerate the transition to a greener economy. The Green Deal goes hand in hand with an industrial policy, an Industrial Deal. Nyrstar and many other companies have already signed the Antwerp Declaration, which provides a good starting point. Read more about the Antwerp Declaration here https://lnkd.in/e8iqT6E2. #climateneutrality #cleanenergy #rawmaterials #strategicautonomy #greendeal #industrialdeal #industrialpolicy #levelplayingfield

This week we celebrated that Vattenfall's biomass plant - the largest in the Netherlands - is off the table. But what lessons can we elicit from this about activism and climate policy? With a reconstruction in Het Parool, Bart van Zoelen describes how a six-year battle by an action group - Comite Schone Lucht - against an energy giant Vattenfall resulted in the downfall of Netherlands' largest biomass plant in Diemen, and a resounding victory for nature. "She stood there with a dead Christmas tree, in front of the Vattenfall headquarters in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. That was how the activists had planned it that morning in the spring of 2019: the pitiful tree in a labyrinth painted on the sidewalk had to make the incoming Vattenfall employees think again. Thanks to subsidies of up to 400 million euros, Vattenfall was willing to work with a natural wood stove district heating for tens of thousands of households so that Vattenfall could still change its mind and yet this week it happened. Fenna Swart of the Clean Air Committee made them think back to the actions of the first hour. With about 10 activists they stood in front of the Vattenfall headquarters. It was precisely this action with a Christmas tree that attracted the attention of conservationists in Estonia. "That's how we quickly realized that this was happening everywhere, at home and abroad." It was the start of a ‘well-oiled network’ at home and abroad. Swart came into contact with other critics, such as professors Louise E.M. Vet, Martijn Katan, Party for the Animals and Johan Vollenbroek, among others. The Council of State annulled the building permit last year. One of the lesser things that Swart draws is that a small group of activists can be the start of a movement. The Clean Air Committee played a combined role in the protest that indirectly made it clear to broad sections of the Dutch population that the burning of #biomass has dark sides. Only after an investment campaign by the committee, such as one signed by more than 300,000 citizens, did private cabinets decide to abolish biomass subsidies. In the summer of 2019, the protest on IJburg was already a lot more massive with a protest march of hundreds of children to Vattenfall near Diemen. The Clean Air Committee also grew further because the large regular environmental organizations included the subject. These felt bound by the Energy Agreement with government and industry. “This pact made the Netherlands the largest biomass burner in Europe.” It put Swart personally in a difficult position.." Read more. Full article (without paywall) in Het Parool 👇

Renewable hydrogen without electricity

So, if your working on estimating upstream and downstream supply chain #emissions with input-output data, read this study of my very capable RaboResearch colleagues #climate #scope #sustainability

Looking forward to this MO* magazine debate in the city of Ghent on March 24. Not that I particularly like the title of the debate "Rush for green resources; who wins?". A tad suggestive, isn't it? Other speakers will be Wies Willems, Jan Franco & John Vandaele. Based on the documentary work I have been doing during the last two years, and my endless discussions with so many different stakeholders, incl. the indigenous Sami population, here is my take. And yes, it's a European perspective: 📣 The age of neoliberal, free-trade globalisation is over. We live in the era of protectionism and resource nationalism. We need to develop a vertically-integrated value chain, from mine to final #cleantech product. If we don’t act soon, the race will be lost before it got truly started and Europe will de-industrialise. The clock is ticking. 📣 Without opening domestic mines and refineries in Europe in the next years, Europe will be critically dependent on a few third countries for the supply of the raw materials needed to manufacture our batteries, #rareearth motors as well as the EVs, #windfarms, #electrolysers, #solarpvs, #heatpumps etc. 📣 The #CriticalRawMaterialsAct is a first step but now needs to be ramped up. The strategic projects need to be identified, permitted & implemented. While we are talking, the Chinese are digging! Europe can look at the Nordic countries for doing it in an ESG-friendly way. A benefit-sharing, community-centric model is the way forward. 📣 There is the NIMBY of the rich vs. the NIMBY of the poor and politically powerless (indigenous) people. (Expect a new mini-documentary on this later this month!). Even in Sweden this paradox is ever present. The world-class Norra Kärr project, in the South of Sweden, has been blocked by well-organised, rich communities, while the Per Geijer deposit, in Sami territory, is expected to be implemented. In my view, BOTH projects should be initiated, while respecting the most stringent #esg criteria: these 2 projects would solve Europe’s entire #rareearth dependency problem for good.   🎬 Made in Europe: from mine to electric vehicle: https://lnkd.in/e6kKFx5Q 🎬 The Sami Perspective: https://lnkd.in/eVeiMbDX 🎬 Europe's Mining Renaissance: A Catalyst for Climate Neutrality: https://lnkd.in/ecN_GauR 🙏 The team: Stijn van Baarle (STORYRUNNER) Peter Tom Jones Michael Van de Velde Casimir De Kimpe Marius Acke Jasper Vander Elst 🙏 Featuring: Jan Moström (LKAB, Euromines), Ulrika Huhtaniska (LKAB), Stefan Mikaelsson, Anders Sand (Boliden), Päivi Kinnunen (VTT), Esa Peuraniemi (Boliden Harjavalta Oy), Matthew Congleton & Pasi Rannus (Valmet Automotive), Maroš Šefčovič (EC)   Horizon Europe ENICON Horizon Europe LITHOS Horizon Europe EXCEED Horizon Europe AVANTIS Susana XARÁ Ewelina Rathje PROMETIA Patrick d'Hugues Maria Sunér Madalina Ivanica Jan Buelinckx