Eleven leading companies from six countries have founded the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI) to herald the end of the fossil age for all organic chemicals and materials by 2050. The initiative has been launched under the leadership of nova-Institute (Germany) with these founding members: Lenzing (Austria), Beiersdorf (Germany), Cosun Beet Company (The Netherlands), Covestro (Germany), Henkel (Germany), LanzaTech (USA), NESTE (Finland), SHV Energy (The Netherlands), Stahl (The Netherlands), Unilever (UK) and UPM (Finland). These eleven companies also form the Core Advisory Board of RCI, and the initiative has the personal support of more than 100 industry experts.
The vision of RCI is that fossil carbon shall be completely substituted by renewable carbon from alternative sources (biomass, direct CO2 utilisation and recycling) by 2050. RCI aims to accelerate the transition from fossil to renewable carbon for all organic chemicals and materials as the founders believe that this is the only way for these materials to become sustainable and climate friendly. Thus, the initiative endeavors to address the actual issue of extracting and using additional fossil-fuel based carbon from the ground and would instead promote carbon from renewable and alternative sources.
RCI is taking a three-pronged approach for bringing about this transition:
- To create cross-industry platforms that will demonstrate feasibility of renewable carbon in tangible activities.
- To advocate for legislation, taxation and regulation changes to give renewable carbon a level commercial playing field to play on.
- To create a wider pull for sustainable options by raising awareness and understanding of renewable carbon level amongst the business community and the wider public.