Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation selects carbon utilzation projects for the first round of the CCEMC Grand Challenge: Innovative Carbon Uses

EDMONTON – The Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation has confirmed the finalists for the first round of the CCEMC Grand Challenge: Innovative Carbon Uses. The successful projects will be announced in Edmonton at Zero 2014: A Conference for a Low Carbon Future, on April 15. The finalists were selected from 344 submissions, from 37 countries, on six continents and will each receive $500,000 to help develop their technologies.

Grand Challenge Round One finalists are diverse and include innovative projects linked to fertilizers, concrete, building materials, fuels and a variety of chemicals used to produce consumer goods, such as ski boots, fishing rods, clothing and inks.

“The Grand Challenge is a unique venture for the CCEMC with a goal to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by fostering the development of technologies that create new carbon-based, value-added products and markets,” said CCEMC Chair Eric Newell. “The CCEMC board is thrilled with the Grand Challenge finalists projects, and we look forward to announcing them to the world at Zero 2014 in Edmonton.”

Zero 2014 runs April 15-17 is hosted by the CCEMC and the City of Edmonton and will feature a slate of international speakers, including Alberta Premier Alison Redford, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, futurist Jeremy Rifkin, Thomas Stocker from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Scott Vaughan from the International Institute for Sustainable Development and Professor Dr. Bjorn Stigson, former president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. More information is available at Zero2014.com.

The CCEMC focuses on stimulating transformative change by funding projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help Alberta adapt to climate change. Funding for the organization is collected from industry. Since 2007, facilities that annually produce more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are required to reduce their greenhouse gas intensity by 12 per cent relative to a historic baseline. Paying $15 into the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund for every tonne over the reduction limit is one compliance option. The CCEMC operates arms-length of government.