The world urgently needs solutions that enable sustainable climate management. ccloop is committed to the development, implementation, and adoption of technologies and processes for the production of CO₂-neutral everyday goods. Our focus lies in the circular utilization of carbon, with particular emphasis on providing defossilised raw materials.

Climate change is a threat, but also an opportunity. Now and in the near future, a multitude of outdated manufacturing processes will be replaced by new, climate-friendly alternatives. We need to ensure that the right decisions are made today, so that the Earth can be healed and not just hastily patched up.

Imagine a world with clear, fresh, and unpolluted air. A world with a carefully balanced climate, free from global warming. We can achieve this goal, but we must act responsibly and with foresight.

One simple way to reduce CO₂ emissions is to minimize the consumption of fossil resources such as oil, coal, and gas. The majority of fossil resources are consumed in the transportation, energy, and heating sectors. However, the significant use of these resources as starting materials for the production of daily life goods (such as medications, diagnostics, clothing, computer casings, packaging materials, shampoos, as well as lubricants and adhesives for high-tech applications) is often overlooked. Processes for producing alternative, defossilized (i.e., not derived from fossil resources) raw materials are not science fiction. Both plant materials and CO₂ can and are already being used in some places for the production of defossilised resources.

For each individual: Accelerate the transition by seeking out everyday products that are made from defossilised raw materials.

For industry managers: Take on the entrepreneurial risk and invest in technologies that help us all keep fossil resources in the ground.

For investors: Foster the momentum and support innovative solutions.

For policymakers: Expedite and safeguard the transformation process by creating a regulatory framework that enables and rewards bold initiatives and product innovations.

The future still lies in our hands.

Carbon is the element of life.

The biological carbon cycle begins with the uptake of CO₂ from the air by plants. Using solar energy, plants separate CO₂ into oxygen and carbon. They then use the carbon for their growth. Plant material, among other things, serves as food for animals and humans. They digest the plant material, consuming the previously released oxygen. The energy absorbed and stored from the sun at the beginning of the cycle is released, and the majority of the plant carbon is emitted back into the atmosphere as CO₂.

Plants, animals, and humans are therefore like siblings. Only through their synergy can the biological carbon cycle be closed. None of them can exist for extended periods without the other.

Geology, fundamental laws of nature, and state-of-the-art computer models show that the balance between CO₂, oxygen, and solar energy input also determines the Earth's temperature and the composition of the biosphere. Maintaining a stable state is crucial for preserving Earth as a habitat for all higher life forms, especially for humans.

Approximately 300 million years ago, a significant amount of CO₂ was removed from the atmosphere. This occurred when plants first captured the atmospheric carbon, were trapped underground and then slowly converted into fossil resources such as oil, natural gas, or coal. Over the past 100 years, humanity has excessively utilized these fossil resources for energy generation and raw material production. Since fossil resources are typically burned during or after use, the trapped carbon is released again and emitted as CO₂ back into the atmosphere. The release of CO₂ has been occurring at a significantly faster rate than its uptake by plants and other natural sinks since the beginning of industrialization. As a result, the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere is steadily increasing.

Naturally, CO₂ is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases trap solar energy that would otherwise be radiated into space, causing the Earth's temperature to rise.

The resulting climate warming has devastating consequences for the geosphere and the biosphere. In the interest of a prosperous future, we must take action now. This means not only minimizing current emissions but also removing CO₂ that was irresponsibly emitted years ago from the atmosphere.

We burn the majority of the extracted fossil resources. During combustion, the stored energy is released and used, among other things, for heating, transportation, industry, and electricity generation. The resulting CO₂ is also released, accumulating in the atmosphere and thereby accelerating global warming.

Fortunately, energy can also be obtained from renewable sources. By harnessing wind, solar, or hydropower, the path towards a carbon-neutral future can be paved in the transportation, heating, and electricity sectors.

The technologies required for this transformation have already been developed, and all we need to do is fine-tune, optimize, and scale them up.

Fossil resources are not only used in the energy, heat, and transportation sectors but also serve as raw materials for the production of a wide range of daily life products. In fact, items such as medications, diagnostics, clothing, computer casings, packaging materials, shampoos, as well as lubricants and adhesives for high-tech applications, contain a significant amount of carbon.

Currently, most of the resources required for manufacturing daily life goods are extracted from oil, gas, or coal. When these products reach the end of their life cycle, they are typically disposed of and burned as waste. This releases the carbon, which originated from fossil sources, as CO₂, adding to the already burdened atmosphere. Carbon-based resources and products contribute significantly to global warming.

Unlike in the energy sector, carbon is indispensable for the production of everyday products in most cases. This is because carbon alone allows for the construction of large and complex molecular structures, which are essential for their formation and production. Carbon cannot be replaced by any other element in the material sector and cannot be eliminated from the production chain.

However, by decoupling fossil resources through defossilization of raw material streams, it is still possible to achieve CO₂-neutrality. This requires the courageous implementation of innovative technologies.

An important step towards the production of CO₂-neutral everyday products is the replacement of oil, gas, and coal with defossilised raw materials. In fact, defossilised raw materials can and are already be produced. Three suitable pathways are known, and regardless of technological and scientific advancements, there will be no alternatives in the foreseeable future.

(I) Plastic recycling:

The vast majority of fossil resources are used for plastic production.

In industrialized countries, a significant amount of plastic, and thus the carbon it contains, is already recycled and brought into a circular system. However, there is still enormous untapped potential. Further scaling and optimization of recycling processes are necessary to keep more carbon in the loop and prevent its release into the atmosphere as CO₂. However, plastic recycling alone does not come close to meeting the demand for raw materials. The continuously growing world population, high demand for innovative carbon-based high-tech products (such as solar panels or wind turbine blades), and non-recyclable plastic waste result in gaps in the material flow.

(II) Raw materials from plant material:

Defossilized raw material streams can also be generated from sustainably produced plant material. Unused plant material is abundantly available, such as kitchen waste, wood, or agricultural residues. However, in many cases, these valuable materials are simply burned or converted into fuels. We recommend that a larger portion of sustainably produced plant material will be intelligently utilized in the future for the production of defossilised raw materials for everyday products.

This sector of material utilization from plant material is already very dynamic. Many innovations and technologies for refining plant materials and isolating novel defossilised raw materials are under development or already commercialized.

(III) CO₂-recycling and utilization from process gases:

Another way to provide defossilised raw materials is through CO₂ recycling. In this process, CO₂ is directly captured from the gas phase and converted into defossilised raw materials. In fact, there are various process-based CO₂ streams (e.g., CO₂ from waste incineration, steel production, cement production, or other industrial activities) that will continue to exist even in a carbon-neutral future.

To prevent the accumulation of CO₂ from these unavoidable emissions in the atmosphere, it must be either offset elsewhere, captured and stored, or utilized. We support the latter approach, which involves using CO₂ as a feedstock for the production of defossilised raw materials. CO₂ is typically highly concentrated in process gases, which is advantageous for CO₂ recycling in terms of logistics and energy efficiency. Therefore, process gases are of particular interest as a source material.

Numerous CO₂ recycling technologies have already been developed. CO₂-recylcing technologies for supply of defossilised raw materials should be further scaled up and widely adopted.

CO₂ recycling is a powerful technology with significant potential for reducing global temperature rise. Unlike the use of plant material as a defossilised resource, the potential of CO2 recycling is often underestimated, and the technology remains largely unknown to the public. As emphasized by ccloop, the widespread adoption of CO₂ recycling as a key technology for providing defossilized raw materials holds great potential.

Similar to how plants have integrated carbon into a productive cycle over hundreds of millions of years, CO₂-recycling integrates carbon into a productive cycle as well. While plants primarily produce biomass, CO₂-recycling delivers defossilised raw materials that can be directly used in the production of everyday goods. Chemistry and industrial biotechnology have already made valuable contributions to CO₂-recycling, offering meaningful and environmentally friendly solutions for producing defossilised raw materials from CO₂.

For the production of defossilised raw materials through CO₂-recycling, the widespread availability of renewable energy and sustainably produced hydrogen is crucial. Both are needed to chemically reduce CO₂ into defossilised raw materials. The infrastructures for the production and distribution of the three key resources of CO₂-recycling - hydrogen, energy, and CO₂ - must be carefully planned and closely interconnected. As we are now setting the course for building the distribution networks of the future, the planning must be adjusted accordingly.

A remarkable characteristic of CO₂ recycling technologies is that they contribute to the reduction of current emissions while also removing CO₂ that was released long ago from the atmosphere. These unique properties enable proactive management of CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere. Furthermore, by using CO₂ as a feedstock for the production of defossilised raw materials, an incentive for the commercial utilization of CO₂ is created. This establishes cycles of innovation, scaling, cost reduction, and new applications, accelerating the establishment of CO₂ recycling infrastructure and, consequently, the speed at which CO₂ emissions can be reduced and the climate stabilized.

In the interest of our climate, we recommend that every visitor engages in responsible and informed actions in all areas of life and adopts a modest lifestyle.

In the field of producing defossilised raw materials for the manufacturing of daily life goods, we recommend (I) recycling carbon-containing materials whenever feasible, (II) using plant material wisely, and (III) scaling up CO₂ recycling and the associated energy and hydrogen infrastructure. Ultimately, all raw material streams should be decoupled from fossil resources as much as technically possible and redirected onto the defossilised path.

It is up to us to leave the "Age of Oil" behind and defossilise our material streams. All we need to do is simply do it.