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A few weeks ago, while listening to a keynote by Earl Goetheer, CTO of accelerator HighTechXL, I got familiar with a metaphor I never heard before. While discussing ways to decarbonize our society, he underscored the importance of having multiple tools (different technologies) at our disposal. Interestingly, he then put them in a football lineup. Electrification, renewable feedstocks, and circularity were the core of the team – the hard-working midfielders and fullbacks – and process efficiency was the number nine netting goals. To my surprise – and just because I never thought of it this way, forgive me –  carbon capture and storage played as the goalie. “If, after a game, we read that our team goalkeeper was very active during the game, it’s not good news, and that’s the same here because the technology still needs to be developed and costs money,” Goetheer said

According to the Dutch Scientific Climate Council, it feels like the Netherlands should invest in this goalkeeper academy more, as it calls for the government to act, as reported by Aafke Eppinga earlier this week.

Climate ambitions require more than trees: Netherlands must intensify carbon removal
The Netherlands must actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere to limit global warming. This goes beyond planting trees, says the Scientific Climate Council (WKR) in an opinion. The council suggests that technologies for permanent CO₂ removal should be used.
Earl Goetheer explains his energy transition tactics.
Mauro’s GREEN+ corner | Innovation Origins | Substack
This is the first episode of Mauro’s GREEN+ corner, our Saturday-themed newsletter about the green transition. Once a month, our editor, Mauro Mereu, discusses some of the most interesting developments in the green transition. Do you prefer reading it through Substack? You can sign up to get it right in your inbox by clicking here.

Trainers and players

Talking about football after the controversial elimination of the Netherlands in the Euro semifinal against England is hard these days. While the Dutch team achieved an unexpected result despite some last-minute forfeits, how solid is the Dutch decarbonization lineup? There is a lot of potential, talent, and the need for further development – what I would also say about Xavi Simons.  If you follow our website regularly, you will notice that we have made some changes, introducing a new series.  In one of them, the Green Transition Drivers, I chat with some of the people working on this transition – in a way, talking with the coaches of those technologies that can make us score climate goals. The first two episodes are out; you can find them here:

You can find the other episodes of the Green Transition Drivers here
In our series called the Green Transition Drivers, we put entrepreneurs and innovators working to make our economy greener.

Style of play

Ultimately, it is all about decisions policymakers need to make – or how the coach decides to play the team. As you know, the European Elections happened a month ago, with Liberals and Greens losing seats and far-right parties making more significant gains. The European People’s Party (EEP) got most of the seats overall, granting her leading candidate, Ursula von der Leyen, a second term at the helm of the Commission. Several reports mention the EPP’s willingness to scale down Europe’s commitment to climate action.  While the emissions target for 2030 – 55% fewer emissions compared to 2005 levels – and reaching climate neutrality by 2050 remain, the Green Deal might soon become a Green Growth Deal. Will we go for a gegenpressing on climate change or park the bus? Let’s hope to score many goals!

In case you missed them, here are some must-read articles from the last few months: 

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