Update Groene Chemie, Nieuwe Economie (GCNE)

In the past two months, we have worked hard on a number of important matters, of which feedback, follow-up and learning lessons from the Growth Fund applications from the second round were the main ones.

It is now known that the application Agri Based Chemicals (ABC) was unfortunately rejected and the application Plastic Circularity within Sustainable Materials was approved. In both applications, both GCNE and CBBD played an important role. The need to continue with bio-based raw material routes has also been emphasised in recent weeks by Minister Jetten’s policy memorandum on the use of bio-based raw materials, which was presented to the Lower House on 22 April.

The ABC team, together with the industry players directly involved, has had a meeting with the President of the Commission, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and also with the responsible DG of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Willem Sederel comments: “It bothers me, for example, that the ABC application was assessed by an anonymous expert. This is in contrast to all other applications.”

The main purpose of the talks is to find out whether it makes sense to submit this proposal in the third round. This could then be combined with the route wood to chemistry. To this end, two expert sessions have recently been organised and the concluding talks will be held in June. A decision will then be taken on how to proceed together for Growth Fund Round 3. We will keep everyone informed of progress.