PLANETS, a Horizon Europe Project demonstrating Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design, launches in Grenoble

BNN joined members of the scientific community from 18 partner organizations in Grenoble, France, from 26-27 November 2024 to launch the Horizon Europe project PLANETS.

PLANETS stands for “Plasticizers, fLame-retardants and surfactANts: new alternatives validating the safE and susTainable by deSign approach” and is funded under the Topic HORIZON-CL4-2024-RESILIENCE-01-24.

The consortium will receive 14.5 million Euros from the European Union’s research and innovation programme to demonstrate the applicability of the SSbD Draft Framework published by the JRC while technically developing alternatives for 3 of the most important classes of molecules in chemical industries: plasticizers, flame retardants and surfactants.

The new molecules and products developed by PLANETS will be significantly safer to workers and consumers and will have considerably lower environmental impact, while ensuring economic viability and social awareness.

This ambitious project, coordinated by Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), which hosted the Kick-Off Meeting, brings together 18 complementary partners from 7 countries, including 7 large industry partners (BASF, Chemische Fabrik Budenheim KG, ELKEM Silicones, Greenchemicals Srl, Steinbacher Dämmstoff GmbH, SYENSQO, Wacker Chemie AG), 3 SMEs (RINA Consulting, STERNA, QSAR Lab), 5 RTOs (AIMEN Technology Center, CEA, TNO, IPC, Fraunhofer ICT) and 3 non-profit research organizations (BioNanoNet Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Radboud University). These partners bring the expertise required for the entire project development, including:

• Development of safer and more sustainable alternatives through SSbD assessments in a tiered approach
• Demonstration of the integration of the new molecules for the manufacturing of new products for various applications (coating, insulation foams and childcare articles)
• Social and humanities sciences
• Business plans and market uptake approaches
• Digital Product Passport
• Identification of new skills and training
• Interactions with appropriate stakeholders and citizens and feedback to JRC and the EC.

In this project, BNN leads the work package on Stakeholder Engagement, Communication and Dissemination, and contributes to tasks related to SSbD and training.

PLANETS aims to significantly contribute to paving the way for the adoption of the SSbD framework while proposing a roadmap towards industrialisation and market uptake of the alternative solutions. We are proud to be part of these solutions!

Follow the progress of PLANETS via the website, launching in 2025: https://project-planets.eu/ and on LinkedIn.

 

Follow PLANETS on LinkedIn