Context

One of the most important challenges for today's society is the development of technologies capable of mitigating the effects of greenhouse gases as the main causes of global warming.

The importance of these actions was reflected in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (COP21) and ratified in successive Conferences of the Parties, including COP25 Chile Madrid 2019. In order to avoid even more severe climate catastrophes, it was agreed to reduce emissions by 40-70% by 2050 compared to 2010 in order to limit the temperature increase to below 2°C by 2100 compared to the pre-industrial era.

As 80 % of energy demand is met by fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas), with the chemical industry and transport accounting for 29 % of the total, it is vital to develop a new generation of efficient technologies and materials based on sustainable energy sources. These technologies will not only reduce emissions but also reduce their concentration in the atmosphere by means of processes that allow them to be used to produce value-added products.

Objectives

FotoArt-CM aims to contribute to the valorization of natural resources and waste to optimize the economic, energy and environmental aspects necessary to close the carbon and nitrogen cycles and lay the basis for a future "Circular Economy" that can be extended from industrial facilities to smart cities.

The development of new materials to efficiently replicate the natural process of photosynthesis will provide a response to one of the most outstanding technological challenges of the last 50 years and a key objective in research into the valorization of CO2, the clean production of hydrogen and nitrogen fixation.

Consortium entities

FotoArt-CM (S2018/NMT-4367) is funded by the Community of Madrid through the Program of R&D activities between research groups in Technologies 2018, co-financed by European Structural Funds.