4 Postdoctoral Researchers Investment in Industry Transition in the Research Hub on ?Deep Decarbonization: Towards Industry with Negative Emissions? (0.8 ? 1.0 FTE)

Within Utrecht University's strategic theme "Pathways to Sustainability" an interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed the impact-oriented research programme 'Deep Decarbonization: Towards Industry with Negative Emissions'. In this programme, a broad group of researchers (Renewable Energy Systems, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Climate Policies, Innovation Studies, Governance, Economics and Law) will be working together with an equally broad group from industry, government and civil society, to generate new concepts to support the radical transformation of industry needed for our society to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.

How to achieve this transformation in the decades to come is the research challenge that this hub takes on. The key research question is: How can industry transform, and how can companies, government and other stakeholders act on their shared responsibility so that The Netherlands meets the Paris climate agreement?

The hub pursues three research lines to answer this overarching question:  

(1) Biofuels with Negative Emissions (BFNE)

(a) What are the current and future prospects for second-generation biofuel and negative emission technologies in the Netherlands? What are the corresponding scientific, technological and economic challenges? How will future technologies improve and maximize the sustainable use of biomass compared to current biofuels production, distribution, and consumption?

(b) What are plausible and sustainable future visions for the introduction, regulation and governance of second-generation biofuels in the Netherlands that may also require biomass in combination with CCS for negative emissions (BECCS)?

(c) What strategies can be implemented for responsible and sustainable innovation in this domain as part of a broad strategy of biomass use in the Netherlands to achieve the sustainable visions in line with the Dutch commitment to the Paris Agreement?

(2) Subsurface Resources for Negative Emissions (SRNE)

(a) What are the current and future capabilities for subsurface carbon trapping, energy storage and subsurface catalytic/chemical processing in the Netherlands, what are the corresponding economic, legal, and governance drivers, and how sustainable are current practices?

(b) What are plausible and sustainable future visions for such subsurface activities and their corresponding economic, legal, and governance drivers in the Netherlands (in line with the Paris climate agreement)?

(c) What strategies can be implemented for responsible and sustainable innovation, i.e., for transformative use of the subsurface for carbon trapping, energy storage and industrial processing to help achieve the Dutch commitment to the Paris Agreement?

(3) Industry in Transition (IiT)

(a) What is the current state of industry in the Netherlands regarding energy use and GHG emissions as well as economic, legal, and governance drivers?

(b) What are plausible and sustainable visions that sets the Dutch industry on a pathway to radically reduced and ultimately negative emissions based on implementation of existing as well as new technologies, including those explored under research lines (1) and (2). 

(c) What are the corresponding economic, legal, and governance drivers?

(d) What are strategies to transition the Dutch industry to achieve the sustainable visions in line with the Dutch commitment to the Paris agreement?