Posts in category: Events

The ALIGNED project and SUSTRACK project continue their partnership to provide better, shared knowledge about standardisation, certification, labelling and monitoring the Life Cycle Assessment and other related disciplines. Last week, in the context of the EU Green Week, Massimo Pizzol, from Aalborg University, took the floor to represent ALIGNED during the workshop “Limits, barriers and solutions to boost the transition towards a circular bio-based economy” organised by the SUSTRACK project.  

Science Approach to Close Sustainability

The SUSTRACK work is looking for the development of a comprehensive literature research on the limits of the linear fossil-based economy, and barriers to the sustainable transition. Within this framework, the ALIGNED project, as a focus group participant, had the opportunity to share its findings, and insights associated with its approach related to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in five different bio-based sectors. Several stakeholders that took place in this event had the opportunity to make their voices heard and identify, discuss, consolidate, and prioritize the identified barriers, acquiring valuable insights about a sustainable transition in several industries.

In the words of Massimo Pizzol, the ALIGNED project technical coordinator: “The EU Green Week provides us with a special framework to highlight our efforts to develop a common, and enhanced knowledge of different scientific methodologies. We want to express our congratulations to the SUSTRACK project for this workshop, which has provided many valuable insights to all the stakeholders involved in this joint effort that is a sustainable transition in different industries”.

Last week, Massimo Pizzol, professor at Aalborg University and the Project Coordinator of the ALIGNED project had the opportunity to participate in the SEAMARK project Forum to introduce the Aligned Project in the framework of “LCA for the emerging blue and green bioeconomy: application to seaweed products and beyond”.

The event was organised by the European Project SEAMARK (Horizon Europe under contract no. 101060379), due to its First Consortium Meeting in Aarhus (Denmark), in the Aahrus University Facilities. During its intervention, Prof. Massimo Pizzol showcased an overview of LCA of seaweed-based products, shared some good practices in LCA of emerging technologies (blue-bioeconomy and beyond), and highlighted several connections between SEAMARK, ALIGNED and other related initiatives that are facing LCA assessment.

In the words of Pizzol: “We are delighted to join the First Consortium Meeting of the SEAMARK project. Join forces and efforts to enhance the LCA assessment and current methodologies will help us to make better, and more sustainable decisions in all industries. From the ALIGNED project, I want to thank the SEAMARK project coordination for the opportunity to share our best practices and learnings. We will look forward to joint actions”.

The SEAMARK project aims to upscale circular ocean seaweed cultivation and land-based integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems and develop novel processing methods involving fermentation and biotransformation into twelve innovative seaweed-based products. The partners of SeaMark are from 12 countries in Europe and each has in-depth specialist expertise in one or more areas that are required to develop the seaweed value chain. The active involvement of 9 SMEs and 3 larger enterprises guarantees the commercial exploitation and implementation of the results generated by the SeaMark project through a market-driven approach.

Last week, Massimo Pizzol, professor at Aalborg University and the Project Coordinator of the ALIGNED project had the opportunity to participate in an online seminar to introduce the Aligned Project in the framework of “Aligning life cycle assessment methods and bio-based sectors for improved environmental performance”.

The event was organised by Bioeconomy for Change, one of the largest research societies in France in the Bioeconomy sector. The intervention was due to the participation of the ALIGNED project in the workgroup “LCA for Bio-based groups and its methodology”.

Bioeconomy for Change has a team of 35 specialists working for more than 500 members, from upstream agriculture to the marketing of finished products. The ambition of the B4C network is to make France one of the world’s leaders in the development of biomass, among other Bioeconomy fields of action.

During the first days of May, Agneta Ghose, Assistant Professor at Aalborg University and ALIGNED project member participated in the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 33rd Annual Meeting in Dublin, representing the initiative about the latest trends of LCA and Science management. This event is the largest meeting on environmental toxicology and chemistry in Europe.

ALIGNED: A framework for the LCA of bio-based products

In the framework of poster presentations, the ALIGNED project was showcased on May 1 in the Forum-Exhibition Hall in the Convention Centre of Dublin. There, Agneta Ghose presented the goals, purpose and actions of the initiative and made a solid networking with the attendees.

ALIGNED in the session “LCA as an Effective Tool in Decision-making”

On May 2, Ghose participated in the platform presentation “LCA as an Effective Tool in Decision-making” celebrated in the Liffey Hall from the Convention Centre of Dublin, with the title: “Is data sharing in LCA FAIR?”, presented the project and the importance and needs for FAIR data sharing in the LCA domain.

In the words of Agneta Ghose, from Aalborg University: “The presence of the ALIGNED project at the last SETAC Annual Meeting was fantastic. Having the opportunity to chair different sessions and have fruitful discussions on the importance of using LCA as an effective tool for decision-making, will be helpful for the progress of our project. We are delighted to have had the opportunity to discuss and share our views on methodologies, tools, and interpretations of the complexities of the results in order to make better decisions”.

On 31 March 2023, The European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (Textile ETP) organised the “3rd ECOSYSTEX Dissemination Webinar”, where the ALIGNED project was highlighted, among other relevant initiatives such as WhiteCycle and BioTEN. During this event, both projects presented their aims and objectives, and report on their latest progress and developments.

There, Marisa Groenestege, from BTG Group, was in charge of providing a short presentation of the ALIGNED project, including its objectives, expected outcomes, and sectors of interest.

In the words of Marisa Groenestege: “The ALIGNED project is one of the answers to the EU’s call to improve the environmental performance of Construction, Woodworking, Textiles, Pulp and Paper and Biochemicals. We believe that bioeconomy and bio-based products hold the promise of potentially reversing climate change restoring biodiversity and protecting air, water and soil quality of the World”.

ECOSYSTEX is an initiative of the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission (REA), the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and the Circular-Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking to accelerate collaboration in textile sustainability.

Full 3rd ECOSYSTEX Dissemination Webinar.