Today, Minister Micky Adriaansens of Economic Affairs and Climate visited Chemelot industrial site, during the well-visited Chemelot Circular Strategy Day. Here she received from Loek Radix, director of Chemelot, the first copy of the roadmap towards climate-neutral production with circular raw materials by 2050 at the latest. She was also introduced to RWE's FUREC project.

Chemelot claims to be the leader in terms of sustainability in the Netherlands and Minister Adriaansens acknowledges this: "Winners have a plan and I have seen that today. Chemelot is an important cluster where a huge operation has begun: a transition in capitals. But this will not happen by itself; for the transition, cooperation between companies, government and knowledge institutions is crucial. Industry is abstract to many people, but it is here where the difference is made. The negative sentiment should be reversed, and this can only be done by jointly propagating the importance of industry for our daily lives."

In order to achieve the climate goals, the companies on the industrial cluster have to make their energy demand, raw materials and their processes more sustainable. To this end, RWE's FUREC project is making a substantial contribution. Denis Aarssen, project director FUREC: "With FUREC, Chemelot can become the cradle of global hydrogen production from municipal non-recyclable waste. From this waste, we want to produce affordable local green, circular hydrogen for the industry. For this, we are designing two plants, one of which is to be located at Chemelot. This plant will produce the hydrogen that can then be delivered directly to the companies at Chemelot, which then use it to make their production processes more sustainable."

Loek Radix, director of Chemelot, emphasises the importance of making the industry more sustainable: "We all need to recognise in the Netherlands that making the basic industry more sustainable is a social challenge and not a problem of individual companies. Basic industry is the foundation of welfare and prosperity in our society. We must at all costs avoid becoming part of the reverse experiment in Europe: systematic demolition of basic industry."

Moreover, Denis and Loek say, it is important to have swift, reliable and consistent policy from the government in order to make industry sustainability a success. They also say there should be more focus on circular economy, of which FUREC is a game changer. Denis: "Instead of burning waste, we can 'valorise' it and reuse it as a circular raw material. For example, for industry at Chemelot."

Tomorrow, Queen Maxima will visit Chemelot and will also get to know project FUREC in more detail. 

Find out more about Chemelot Circular here.