While CO2MBS mostly deals with fundamental research of academic nature, the impact of this project on the Belgian economic and social landscape is positive. The impact can be explained using five levels economic and social welfare:
- human health
- social well-being
- climate & environment
- prosperity
- exhaustible resources
The project proposes technologies that help defossilize the energy system. A reduction of CO2 emissions leads to less climate-related health concerns. There is a clear scientific consensus on the effects of climate change on human health. By lowering CO2 emissions, we directly decrease the number of premature deaths worldwide as a result of climate change.
The project aims to find energy solutions which are affordable and increases the security of supply. We predict that generation of Belgian syn-methane and utilization of the existing gas infrastructure such as the storage facility in Loenhout and the large natural gas grid, can make gas and electricity more affordable (reduce net tariffs).
Belgium is internationally known for their effective chemical clusters, with a high degree of collaboration and large innovation projects. Investment in technologies such as proposed in this project typically lead to an increase in employment in the long-run, because building and expanding the new green industry promotes job creation. The research outcomes may sprout new insights in capital productivity for many industries which rely on CO2 capture to lower their emissions. The proposed concept may allow new businesses to start implementing similar capture technologies, especially when there is a high CO2 price.
Resource productivity increases when valorising CO2 as a useful component to produce syn-methane. Syn-methane production uses sustainable molecules (CO2 and H2), which means the dangers of depleting gas reserves and fossil fuels will slowly disappear. The problem of resource sustainability is shifted from the depletion of fossil fuels to depletion of critical metals that are used in the synthesis of sorbents and methanation catalysts.
Given the status of Belgium as a gas importer, the use of syn-methane instead of conventional natural gas means our energy system is less dependent on geopolitics and on the unreliable supply of many gas-exporting countries.
