What exactly is IN4climate.NRW?

Christoph Glasner: IN4climate.NRW was launched at the end of 2018 and sees itself as a kind of dialog format. Industry, science and politics initially discussed the current challenges for the transformation of the basic materials industry in an innovation team. One key question was: What do we need to do to ensure that it remains competitive during the transformation towards climate-neutral production? In addition to large industrial companies, there are several scientific institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia that have the relevant expertise. Fraunhofer UMSICHT and the Wuppertal Institute play a leading role in providing scientific support to the IN4climate.NRW think tank as part of SCI4climate.NRW.

Who were or are the other partners in SCI4climate.NRW?

Christoph Glasner: The two research institutes mentioned, the VDZ (VDZ Technology gGmbH), the BFI (VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut), the IW (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft) and two chairs at RWTH Aachen University. The two chairs are no longer involved.

Once the objective had been defined, how did you set the central themes?

Christoph Glasner: It quickly became clear to the innovation team that hydrogen would be a central element, as would chemical recycling, process heat and carbon dioxide management. In the next step, we set up individual working groups to go into more detail. Let's take the example of hydrogen: here we have a great deal of expertise at Fraunhofer UMSICHT, which we contribute to the relevant working group in the form of impulses.

They do not work on specific projects, but rather initiate them.

Christoph Glasner: You have to take a differentiated view. We, our colleagues from the scientific community, are working and researching within the framework of SCI4climate.NRW with the aim of being able to incorporate these topics into IN4climate.NRW in a targeted manner. The Wuppertal Institute, for example, is specifically working on climate neutrality scenarios. The areas of technologies and infrastructures are largely covered by Fraunhofer UMSICHT, where we have devoted ourselves intensively to chemical recycling, among other things, and have a great deal of expertise on the subject of carbon. In general, there are numerous synergy effects with other activities of the institute, for example within the framework of Carbon2Chem^®.

You are welcome to take us into the practical world of IN4climate.NRW.  

Christoph Glasner: In September last year, there was a working group meeting on the topic of hydrogen in which it was discussed whether there is sufficient water available in Germany for hydrogen electrolysis. This is a topic that my colleague Ilka Gerke and her team are researching. At the same meeting, we also presented the results of a study for the Business Metropolis Ruhr (BMR). We conducted the short study on the "Hydrogen Model Region Ruhr Metropolis" on behalf of the BMR and the Ruhr Regional Association together with the Institute for Qualifying Innovation Research and Consulting GmbH (IQIB) and the German Aerospace Center. Fraunhofer UMSICHT was particularly concerned with (potential) economic activities of a developing hydrogen economy. We have identified companies that could make a contribution to this in the future - through the use, production and transportation of hydrogen - or manufacture relevant products and services.

Another example is the carbon management strategy published by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia two years ago. The central question behind it is how we will deal with the issue of carbon in the future. It is the first political strategy in Germany to state that we cannot avoid carbon capture and storage (CCS). In other words, an instrument for dealing with CO₂ quantities that will still be produced in a few processes, even in a climate-neutral world. But it is also an instrument that is causing discrepancies among various environmental associations. The strategy was formulated in the then Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (later the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy), which was very closely linked to our Carbon Economy working group at the time. Our impetus for shaping the content was correspondingly high. A carbon management strategy at federal level is to follow this year, the key points of which have already been published at.

How is SCI4climate.NRW financed?

Christoph Glasner: The state initially funded SCI4climate.NRW as a project. This funding expired in November 2022. Current funding is provided via separate research contracts to the SCI4climate.NRW partners mentioned above, which come directly from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

NRW.Energy4Climate was launched at the beginning of 2022. What has the allocation been like since then?

Christoph Glasner: Initially, there was the state company IN4climate.NRW GmbH - with the aforementioned tasks and focal points. NRW.Energy4Climate.NRW is based on four pillars: "Energy industry", "Industry and production", "Heating and buildings" and "Mobility". "Industry and production" is in principle synonymous with IN4climate.NRW. Conversely, IN4climate.NRW has therefore become a pillar of NRW.Energy4Climate.

Are there similar models in other regions?

Christoph Glasner: We are unique here in the truest sense of the word and people look towards NRW with great appreciation. The special thing about us is that we have a direct exchange with the state government and therefore at a political level. Employees from the ministry are always represented in the working group meetings. Through this channel, we have access to the federal level with our messages.

What are the next steps?

Christoph Glasner: The current research contract will run for another two years, with the option for a further year. As things stand, we have identified the points that need to be optimized so that the industry can tackle the transformation: How do the political and legal framework conditions need to change? Where is funding lacking? And many things have already been addressed. As a next step, IN4climate.NRW organized an industry conference in March to discuss the roadmap going forward. As mentioned at the beginning, we have only dealt with the basic materials industry so far. But what about the huge SME sector, including plant construction in NRW? Here, too, a transformation is essential - which is why the players were brought together in the Industry Pact. Those that can be assigned to both IN4climate.NRW and the Industry Pact are a challenge, especially for understanding in the outside world. The industry conference was the starting point to simultaneously focus on more stakeholders in NRW within IN4climate.NRW, who are all facing similar challenges.