ECF4CLIM - A EUROPEAN COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK FOR A LOW CARBON ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH EDUCATION (Horizon 2020, 2021-25)

Through a multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary and participatory process, ECF4CLIM develops, tests and validates a European Competence Framework (ECF) for transformational change, which will empower the educational community to take action against climate change and towards sustainable development.

The project strengthens knowledge, skills, attitudes, practices and social norms in the areas of the climate change and sustainable development by:

1. Identifying challenges & opportunities: co-designing the ECF,

2.Testing the ECF: at demonstration sites (individual and collective  competences),

3. Engaging: the broader educational community in evaluating the ECF,

4. Empowering: the broader educational community to triggers and sustain transformational changes

ECF4CLIM website

CO2NSTRUCT: Modelling the role of circular economy construction value chains for a carbon-neutral Europe (2022-2026), funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

CO2NSTRUCT is an EU-funded research project that has set out to identify, test, and quantify circular economy impacts for climate mitigation modelling for six key carbon-intensive materials: cement, steel, brick, glass, wood, and insulation materials. We need extensive data on the impacts of the extraction of raw materials, logistics, transformation, and consumer industries covering the whole life cycle of these materials.

Circular Economy integration into climate action and policy is limiting the EU's advancement to achieve carbon neutrality as fast as possible. Widely applied TIMES energy-climate mitigation models detail the use of technology and technological advances in its GHG abatement pathways. Because CE practices are technical, CO2NSTRUCT deems TIMES the ideal proxy model to shift climate mitigation models from linear to circular. This project will delineate a “circular climate mitigation” framework to augment TIMES models at a first stage, but that can serve as an imprint for other climate mitigation models. The focus will be on six pervasive carbon-intensive construction materials – steel, cement, brick, glass, wood, and insulation – to map six value chains with explicit feedback loops and quantified rebound effects, key of CE practices. Social and environmental externalities will be accounted for, including GHG & air pollutants emissions, water usage, embodied energy, energy poverty, employment, and inequalities. Once these and other CE measures are identified in the key industries of the six materials, CE tools as LCA and MFAs can be coupled to the TIMES model. TIMES will run several CE scenarios to quantify the role of CE for EU+ climate mitigation in the near-term and future, always ensuring carbon. Outcomes will be translated into useful and effective policy support information for sustainable climate mitigation, minimising conflicts across SDGs (both in EU+ and rest of the world). Although the framework is applied to the whole EU+ energy production and consumption system (disaggregated per country), CO2NSTRUCT will emphasize two economic case studies or clusters: (1) offshore renewable energy production and (2) buildings. CO2NSTRUCT anticipates that the framework can be used globally by climate mitigation modelers and policy makers. CE integration into climate action will drive EC’s goal to increase EU GDP by 0.5% by 2030.

Cordis webpage

SUCCESS BLADE: SUstainable and CirCular Economy SyStem for wind BLADE (SUCCESS BLADE) of the Call 2021 - "Proyectos de Transición Ecológica y Transición Digital" of the Spanish MCIIN. Within this project, the UASE leads the subproject 3, SUST BLADE - Sustainability assessment of a fully recyclable blade for wind turbines.   

The main objective of the project is the development of 100% circular and sustainable wind turbine blades through the use of a low viscosity recyclable liquid thermoplastic resin called AKELITE. This main objective will be pursued through two efforts: firstly, the validation of the circularity of wind turbine blades by recovering the two main components, fibers and thermoplastic resin, using a simple, scalable and environmentally friendly approach, under optimal conditions for reuse in the manufacture of new wind turbine blades; and secondly, the sustainability of wind turbine blades by comparing the currently used fossil-based materials with alternative bio-based materials, flax fibers. The Sustblade subproject involves the Energy Systems Analysis Unit and the Wind Energy Unit of Ciemat. The UASE is responsible for assessing the sustainability of the proposed materials in environmental, economic and socioeconomic terms, as well as their contribution to the circular economy and the achievement of the SDGs.

GONDOLA: Gas desulfurization based on recycled materials, ref. PDC2021-120799-I00, (Dec 2021 - Nov 2023) funded by Spanish Call Proof of Concept, 2021, State Program of R+D+i oriented to the Challenges of Society, State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017-2020.

GONDOLA is the follow-up project to ECOSGAS, Removal of Sulfur Organic Compounds from gasification gases by reactive adsorption (ENE2016-75811-R). Main achievements of the previous project are:
 

• Successful formulation and preparation of desulfurization sorbents from Zn-Mn binary metal oxides, recovered from the waste powder of recycled batteries and ZnO-NiO-graphene.
• Extraordinary desulfurization capacity at warm temperatures, 300-500ºC, for integration in thermochemical conversion processes.
• Development of diagnostics, on-site sampling, and online and offline analysis methodologies Conceptual design for a continuous desulfurization process, consisting of sulfidation and regeneration stages.

Building upon those results, the aim of GONDOLA is to prove that the sorbents developed from recovered materials and the conceptual continuous system proposed for the desulfurization of gases are technically and economically feasible, sustainable, and can be deployed at a meaningful scale.

GONDOLA webpage

PILOT STRATEGY: Scaling up CO2 storage - pilot studies in regions with promising geological resources, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101022664.

The PilotSTRATEGY project is investigating geological CO2 storage sites in industrial regions of Southern and Eastern Europe to support the development of large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS).

We are focusing our research on deep saline aquifers–porous rock formations filled with brine several kilometres below ground – which promise a large capacity for storing CO2 captured from clusters of industry.

Detailed studies will be carried out on deep saline aquifers in the Paris Basin in France, the Lusitanian Basin in Portugal, and the Ebro Basin in Spain. We will also enhance our knowledge of CO2 storage options in West Macedonia in Greece and Upper Silesia in Poland.

PilotSTRATEGY will also engage with citizens and stakeholders and ensure that community perspectives are fully represented in the project.

PilotSTRATEGY involves 16 research partners from seven European countries and builds on research carried out by the STRATEGY CCUS project (see finished projects).

Pilot STRATEGY webpage

GREENH2CM: Strategic positioning of the Community of Madrid in R+D+I of green hydrogen and fuel cells within the Complementary Plan for Renewable Energy and Hydrogen.

Transaire: Transición hacia un aire más limpio en España (Transition to cleaner air in Spain), financiado en la Convocatoria 2021 - «Proyectos de Transición Ecológica y Transición Digital» (individual) del MICIIN.

Este proyecto se plantea como una oportunidad de obtener conocimiento científico que pueda ofrecerse a los gestores de la calidad del aire como soporte en la preparación y revisión de políticas nacionales y europeas orientadas a lograr un aire más limpio. Este proyecto se plantea como respuesta a un reto a la sociedad, que surge de la necesidad de reducir los niveles de contaminación en el aire, identificados como un factor de riesgo a la salud pública y conservación de agro- y ecosistemas. En este contexto, el proyecto presenta los siguientes objetivos generales:

- Comprender cómo contribuyen las emisiones nacionales de los distintos sectores emisores a los niveles de concentración de distintos contaminantes.

- Examinar el potencial de mejora de la calidad del aire asociado a diferentes medidas de reducción de emisiones y sus correspondientes efectos en salud y vegetación, así como sus costes y beneficios económicos asociados.

- Difundir a la comunidad científica, sociedad y Administraciones Públicas los resultados del proyecto y facilitar la elaboración de programas de mejora de la calidad del aire.

Man0EUvRE:

This project improves and coordinate energy system modelling across Europe and provides open scientific evidence and research-based results that facilitate ambitious emissions reductions for a clean energy transition (CET) while incorporating the measures suggested in REPowerEU. 

FOTOVOL3R: Circularity of photovoltaic systems by recycling, repairing and reusing photovoltaic modules (2021-2024), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

This project aims to contribute to the sustainability of photovoltaic (PV) systems from the operation of PV modules in plants until the end of their life. Making a product more sustainable involves not only finding ways to manage and valorize its  waste, but also to increase product acceptance, to reduce the amount of waste generated, to avoid the generation of more waste, and to give a second life to the product. For PV modules, this would involve 1) the detection of defective modules in plants, 2) the analysis of them in order to check if they have reached the end of their life or it is possible to carry out repairs that return them to the market, 3) the treatment of the waste of the modules that have actually reached the end of their life, and 4) the verification of the reliability of the repaired modules. 

FOTOLVOR3R webpage

MateMad: CARACTERIZACIÓN MULTIDIMENSIONAL DE MATERIALES URBANOS: IMPACTO SOBRE EL AMBIENTE EXTERIOR, LA DEMANDA ENERGÉTICA Y EL BIENESTAR DE LOS CIUDADANOS (2021-2024), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Proyecto de investigación PID2020-114873RB-C31).

The project has two general objectives:

- Generate knowledge about the impact of surface urban materials on the habitability and sustainability of cities.

- Generate a reliable proposal, adapted to the vulnerable areas of the city of Madrid, for the substitution of materials on urban surfaces that improves the quality of the external environment, energy demand and the well-being of citizens.

MateMad website

MOD4SMART: Mejorar el rendimiento energético y operativMejorar el rendimiento energético y operativo de los edificios mediante la aplicación de tecnologías inteligentes.o de los edificios mediante la aplicación de tecnologías inteligentes, (Nov 2021 - Feb 2025) funded by Spanish MICIIN (Proyectos de I+D+i en líneas estratégicas 2021, PLEC2021 – 007613).

MOD4SMART tiene como objetivo mejorar el rendimiento energético y operativo de los edificios mediante la aplicación de tecnologías inteligentes, enfocándose en la construcción industrializada como elemento clave de futuro, investigando y desarrollando modelos simplificados para ser integrados en los sistemas de inteligencia de los edificios, que en función de una parametrización óptima, desde el punto de vista de complejidad y coste computacional, permitan dar una respuesta a los flujos energéticos que se producen y maximicen la eficiencia enrgética y la sostenibilidad de los edificios. 

Objetivos:

• Creación de un entorno virtual de cosimulación que permita el análisis de forma conjunta de diferentes factores del comportamiento del edificio.
• Desarrollo de modelos simplificados que faciliten la gestión energética de los edificios y la integración de sistemas renovables como parte del edificio. 
• Desarrollo de soluciones modulares aplicables a edificios nuevos y renovados, y análisis de su sostenibilidad. 
• Demostrar el desempeño mejorado del edificio en términos de coste y eficiencia y evaluación de la mejora del indicador de inteligencia para los edificios SRI. 

MOD4SMART webpage

ELHYPORT: Hydrogen fuel cells with advanced membrane-electrode assemblies for their integration in low-power and portable applications (2020-2024), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

ELHYPORT is an integral approach to the development and use of hydrogen fuel cells in real applications, tackling new materials, electrocatalysis, components, devices, and systems. The specific objectives are:

• Porous layers for better transport of water and gases in gas diffusion electrodes.
• Integrated collector-gas diffusion electrode structures.
• New fuel cell designs with increased portability.
• Development of intelligent electronics as an Energy Management System.
• Integration of hydrogen fuel cells in low-power and portable applications.
• Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) of the hydrogen fuel cell system.

ELHYPORT webpage

SES: Socioeconomic Studies in EUROFUSION Programme.

Achieving nuclear fusion commercialization is a scientific and technological challenge that requires a never seen endeavour of the Scientific Community. But many other factors may affect fusion success. That’s why the EUROFUSION Programme includes Socio Economic Studies (SES) on fusion. Since 2001, SES brings together the expertise of researchers in physical sciences, engineering and economic, social and environmental sciences to evaluate the economic and social aspects of the integration of fusion power into future energy systems.

SES Website

URBANOME: Urban Observatory for Multi-participatory Enhancement of Health and Wellbeing (2021-2025) - Funded by EC (H2020 - Grant agreement ID: 945391). (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/945391)

URBANOME aims at building a common EU Framework for evaluating comprehensively multi-sector policies in urban settings supporting the “Health in all Policies” approach of WHO. In this light the overall objective of URBANOME is to promote urban health, wellbeing and liveability, through systematically integrating health concerns in urban policies and the activities of urban citizens, on the basis of detailed and comprehensive evidence on environmental health determinants, the spatial distribution of these in the city, and the social distribution of their impact among different population groups, accounting for different life styles and behaviours. Integration of health concerns, environmental stressors and social equality in public and private activities help alleviate a wide range of contemporary urban challenges, specifically social cohesion and health inequality, and promote the transition of European cities to sustainable, climate proof, smart and inclusive urban economies.

URBANOME brings together the complete set of environmental, social, and functional features of a city in an integrative analytical framework that would facilitate the identification of the main determinants of urban health and wellbeing and support co-creation and testing of policies and precision interventions designed to improve urban health and wellbeing through Urban Living Labs.

The URBANOME approach will be applied through pilots built by the Urban Living Labs in Aarhus, Athens, Aberdeen, Madrid, Milan, Ljubljana, Stuttgart, Paris and Thessaloniki tackling various levels of environmental exposures, age-dependent susceptibility windows, inter-individual variability, gender differentiation of exposure, and socio-economic disparities. These will allow us to draw conclusions regarding the determinants of urban health and wellbeing that will be translated into evidence–based policy recommendations considering socio-economic and environmental factors leading to urban health inequalities.

URBANOME is part of the European Cluster on Urban Health which includes other research projects funded in the frame of the same call.

R&D Contract - UPM

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