The advantages of using geothermal for power production and H&C are little known. Recently, deep geothermal energy production in some regions is confronted with a negative perception, and a special attention from some decision-makers, in terms of environmental performance, which could seriously hamper its market uptake. Media reports focus more on disadvantages than advantages. As a result, decision makers and potential investors have concerns about possible environmental impacts and risks involved in implementing geothermal projects, and social resistance often results in practical obstacles - such as significant slowdowns - to the deployment of the deep geothermal resources. The first objective of the GEOENVI project is to make sure that deep geothermal energy can play its role in Europe’s future energy supply in a sustainable way. It aims to create a robust strategy to respond environmental concerns (by environmental concerns we mean both environmental impacts and risks): • by assessing the environmental impacts and risks of geothermal projects operational or in development in Europe, and • by providing a robust framework to propose recommendations on environmental regulations to the decision-makers, an adapted methodology for assessing environment impact to the project developers, and finally • by communicating properly on environmental concerns with the general public. Secondly, GEOENVI aims at engaging with both decision-makers and geothermal market actors, to have the recommendations on regulations adopted and to see the LCA methodology implemented by geothermal stakeholders. The engagement with stakeholders includes to share knowledge by adopting an open and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) data approach.

Formulations in industrial applications primarily rely on fossil-based surfactants/polymers significantly contributing to environmental pollution (CO2 increase, microplastics) and are scarcely sustainable. The EU Green Deal demands for new chemistries based on sustainable and natural compounds. Effective bio-based surfactants are poorly integrated in industry and in their infancy in research. SurfToGreen will fill this gap with a completely new surfactants platform covering diverse industrial applications to replace current surfactant benchmarks. SurfToGreen gathers a unique partnership of major industrial actors and excellence research centers, with the advanced knowledge on soft matter and industrial processes fundamental to achieve this challenging goal. Biomass derived building blocks will be obtained from EU territorial value chains, including forests and agriculture waste/side streams to diversify biomass origin, and used to synthesize novel biobased surfactants. The new products will cover anionic, nonionic, cationic, zwitterionic surfactant families, and biopolymers-oligomers from renewable sources with no impact on the food chain. The platform will be validated in three industrial demonstrators among the most fast-growing crucial sectors, i.e., home/personal care, textile, and agriculture. The compounds’ surface properties will be assessed against detergency, interfacial, and rheological behaviour. Polymers/oligomers, hydrotropes and surfactants will be used for encapsulation to protect and control the delivery of actives (perfumes, and compounds for plant protection). Digital technologies and safe-and-sustainable by design methodologies will assess the functionality, safety, and sustainability of the biobased formulations within a circular value chain framework. Finally, extensive exploitation and communication will be carried out to promote the SurfToGreen advancements as a pilot to drive a paradigm shift in EU and global industry.

European Cultural Heritage (CH) is a crucial resource that must be maintained, preserved and accessible, to counteract degradation enhanced by unfavorable environmental conditions and climate changes. Conservation methodologies lack durability, sustainability and cost-effectiveness, and are typically based on energy-consuming processes or non-environmentally friendly materials. Coping with these issues, GREENART proposes new solutions based on green and sustainable materials and methods, to preserve, conserve and restore CH: 1) Protective coatings based on green materials from waste and plant proteins, with self-healing and reversibility character, possibly functionalized with organic/inorganic nanoparticles to impart VOC capture, anti-corrosion and barrier behaviors. 2) Foams and packaging materials made by biodegradable/compostable polymers from renewable sources (polyurethanes and natural fibers) to control T/RH. 3) Consolidants based on natural polymers from renewable sources, to mechanically strengthen weak artifacts. 4) Gels and cleaning fluids inspired by the most advanced systems currently available to conservators, improving them according to green and circular economy. 5) Green tech solutions for monitoring CH assets non-invasively against pollutants and environmental oscillations. Life cycle Assessment and modeling will favor the “safe-by-design” creation of affordable solutions safe to craftspeople, operators and the environment, and minimize energy-consumption in monitoring museum environments. Such holistic approach is granted in GREENART by a multidisciplinary partnership that gathers hard and soft sciences and engineering, including academic centers, innovative industries and SMEs, conservation institutions and professionals, museums whose collections hold absolute masterpieces in need of conservation, public entities and policy makers. The latter will favour training and dissemination activities to make stakeholders familiar with the new methods.