The result: “we have to do it, so we have to

start doing it...’ which means in practice

step by step at the slowest pace possible.

The effect is the placement of a f ilter at

the end of a production process instead of

a re-design of the production process. A

common denominator in climate change

policies: f ind some low hanging fruits to

show good intentions. A burden does not

create challenges.

It brought me to another way of reasoning.

Is carbon really the problem? What is the

advantage of a low-carbon economy? How

can we, politicians and producers, make

the burden into a challenge? Carbon is not

the problem; it is the CO2 that we produce.

We all know what the fundamental source

is: usage of fossil fuels produces massive

amounts of CO2 in all kinds of production

processes, heating, mobility and more. For

producers this is a technical challenge based

on three steps: use of clean energy, creating

smart production systems and f inally

capturing and f iltering CO2 emissions. Of

this last step the result is captured CO2 that

needs to be stored or used. Both are very

well possible and still in a premature state of

development. Carbon Capture and Utilization

(CCU) would create Carbon as a fundamental

resource for the circular economy. In both

short time usage (feedstock for agricultural

usage, bubbles in our drinks and even fuels

and plastics) and longtime usage (building

materials) the waste streams of CO2 become

useful. I would say it is an interesting

technological challenge! 

Carbon itself is, as said in chemistry, the king

of elements. Almost all products are based

on carbon, being a diamond or a pencil, a

car, or a table and even a tree or a human

being. Carbon is described by biologists as a

fundamental building block of life. So, a low-

carbon economy is not a workable concept.

The real challenge is to create a High Carbon

Economy!

That makes it exciting for all: politics needs

a focus on creating conditions for industry to

become producers of high carbon products

and supports innovations towards carbon as

a resource. Industry innovates and creates

new products and rethinks actual production

processes: rethink products/materials and

rethink our way to work with CO2. Carbon

Capture leads to Storage (CCS) but much

more challenging is to work on CCU: Carbon

Capture Usage. CCU is the start of the High

Carbon Economy that we need in the long

run. Usage in building materials, usage

in products and usage in regenerative

agriculture are innovation challenges.

The idea of a High Carbon Economy

implicates ‘upgrading’ in quality of life. In

a high carbon economy, no carbon will be

spoiled since it has high value.

Douwe Jan Joustra

Implement Circular Economy ICEAmsterdam is the company of mr Douwe

Jan Joustra formal company name DJJoustra Advies He is one of the

initiators of Circular Economy in the Netherlands and internationally in

Taiwan Bangladesh Brazil and many other countries Starting his work on

Circular Economy in 2010 he developed himself to one of the specialists

in Circularity in relation to systemsecologyworldwide During the years

20172021 he was Global Head of Circular Transformation at CA

Foundation Joustra is a wellknown international speaker on Circularity as

perspective for a Climate neutralpositive future in Industry

Douwe

Jan Joustra