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UPM joins Renewable Carbon Initiative

UPM has joined the recently formed Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI), which aims to support and speed up the transition from fossil carbon to renewable carbon for all organic chemicals and materials.“Renewable carbon from sustainable sources like woody biomass will accelerate the transformation of the chemical industry and offer brand owners and material producers exciting new opportunities for improving their environmental performance," says Michael Duetsch, VP, UPM Biochemicals Business.

UPM has joined the recently formed Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI), which aims to support and speed up the transition from fossil carbon to renewable carbon for all organic chemicals and materials. Last month, the forest industry major celebrated the official start of the construction of the state-of-the-art biochemicals facility in Leuna, Germany with a groundbreaking ceremony held on October 7, 2020 (photo courtesy UPM).

Founded in September 2020 by twelve leading companies in the chemical industry value-chain, the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI) addresses the core problem of climate change, which is largely related to extracting and using additional fossil carbon from the ground.

The RCI vision is clear – by 2050, fossil carbon shall be completely substituted by renewable carbon, which is carbon from alternative sources such as biomass, direct carbon dioxide (CO2) utilization, and recycling.

The founding companies are convinced that this is the only way for chemicals, plastics, and other organic materials to become more sustainable, more climate-friendly, and part of the circular economy – part of the future.

This is about a fundamental change in the chemical industry. Just as the energy industry is converting to renewable sources, renewable carbon will become the new foundation of chemical and material industries in the future. We want to accelerate the change, said Michael Carus, CEO of nova-Institute in Germany and the head of the Renewable Carbon Initiative.

Along with UPM, the first pioneer companies to become a member of the RCI and to form the Core Advisory Board for the initiative include Beiersdorf (Germany), Cosun Beet Company (The Netherlands), Covestro (Germany), Henkel (Germany), LanzaTech (USA), Lenzing (Austria), Neste (Finland), SHV Energy (The Netherlands), Stahl (The Netherlands) and Unilever (UK).

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