Green chemistry must play an important role in the Southeast Drenthe economy in the future. However, it is not yet clear in a considerable number of areas how the municipality of Emmen and the province of Drenthe want to achieve this exactly. This is the conclusion of the Northern Court of Audit. There is a lack of a clear direction with regard to the steps to be taken towards the future.
Within the green chemistry in Emmen, business, education and government work together to develop green and circular chemistry. Consider, for example, making clothing from waste and manufacturing plastic from sugar.
The province and municipality have already taken the necessary steps in the field of green chemistry. “All kinds of contacts have been made and networks have been set up”, says Linze Schaap, secretary-director of the Northern Court of Audit. “It took a while for both governments to find the right way. And that is also allowed. But it is now important to determine where to work towards.”
Because there is still uncertainty about that, according to the report. The contributions already made by the municipality and province to boosting green chemistry are difficult to appreciate. Not if the goals are not completely concrete, says Schaap.
Schaap: “If you indicate today what you want to achieve tomorrow, it is imperative that you determine the steps now.”
The seed for green chemistry in Emmen was sown by the bankruptcy of yarn manufacturer Diolen in 2008, then part of AkzoNobel. At the time, this was a huge blow to employment: about 500 people lost their jobs. The province and municipality of Emmen then looked for ways to maintain employment in the region. For example, research was done into the possibilities of green chemistry. The main spearheads are efficient use of raw materials and limiting adverse environmental consequences as much as possible.
The municipality of Emmen focuses on the link between education and circular or green chemistry. According to the Court of Audit, the Regiocampus can play a key role in this. This is a collaboration between the University of Groningen (RUG), NHL Stenden and the Drenthe College and should be there in 2022. The campus innovation center will be located on the site of the old Qbuzz bus depot in Emmen, which is located between the schools and GETEC chemical park.
The ambitions have been incorporated into Chemport, a partnership between NOM, Groningen Seaports, several municipalities (Emmen, Delfzijl, Groningen and Heerenveen) and education (NHL Stenden, Hanze University of Applied Sciences and the University of Groningen).
The shared goal is to make chemistry greener by reducing carbon emissions. It is also about creating 500 sustainable jobs and halving CO2 emissions. There are no clear goals for the cluster in Emmen, according to the report.
It is also not clear what exactly should be understood by sustainable jobs. Furthermore, both governments want to halve CO2 emissions by 2030, but it is not yet known how this will be measured.
The province has no specific budget for green chemistry; which means that it is not possible to say what part of the resources will be spent on this. Finally, whether Chemport’s efforts have contributed to the growth of employment is also difficult to say.
Between 2018 and 2022, the province contributed approximately 2.6 million euros to various projects related to green chemistry. Emmen pumped 280,000 euros into this. Both governments have jointly invested half a million euros in Chemport.