LIFE at Pollutec 2023: advancing environmental innovation and collaboration

For 45 years, Pollutec has been the international event of leaders in the environment and energy sectors, and a global hub for innovative environmental solutions. Held from 10 to 13 October in Lyon, Pollutec 2023 featured 11 exhibition areas showcasing cutting-edge equipment, technologies, and services for pollution prevention, treatment, and sustainable development. It brought together over 50,000 professionals from 130 countries and offered 20 conference zones for cross-sector collaboration. 

A noteworthy highlight of Pollutec 2023 was the participation of the LIFE Programme represented by 10 LIFE projects and Green Assist, implemented by CINEA, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency. The LIFE Programme is entirely dedicated to environmental, climate and clean energy objectives and supports projects through grants. Green Assist is an advisory initiative under InvestEU aimed at financing the greening of businesses, available on demand, allowing project owners and sponsors to get access to free and independent expertise customised to reduce the environmental footprint of their investment.  

The LIFE Programme and its funding opportunities were presented on 12 October, with an emphasis on how to design a successful proposal. Next, the focus was on Green Assist, the nature of advisory services that project owners may obtain, and how to apply for the support.   

Additionally, 10 innovative projects – funded by the LIFE Programme – were presented, with their experiences and outcomes shared with other practitioners. These projects demonstrated how they are implementing solutions for recycling waste, saving water, reducing emissions, improving energy efficiency and adapting to climate change in various sectors and regions across Europe. The participants also had the opportunity to network with one another.  

The LIFE Programme projects presented at Pollutec 2023 were: 

• LIFE ZEUS ZLD WATER REUSE: This project demonstrates an innovative water recycling solution for the beverage industry, with added-value co-products recovery and net energy gain. 

• LIFE RECYCLO: This project aims to implement an advanced oxidation process for wastewater recycling in small and medium-sized laundries, improving water resource efficiency and reducing pollutant discharge. 

• LIFE WAT’SAVEREUSE: This project promotes water saving and reuse in the tourism sector, using real-life data and realistic models to optimise the routing and planning of transport missions. 

• LIFE RUBIES: This project develops decision-making tools to limit pollution of receiving water bodies due to stormwater overflows, using a virtual drive simulator integrated into a monitoring and control platform. 

• LIFE 4 F-Gases: This project demonstrates an innovative technology for the selective recovery and valorisation of fluorinated gases used as refrigerants, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion. 

• ECOTRAVID: This project uses a virtual drive simulator to optimise fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions for road transport. 

• LIFE IP SMART WASTE: This project supports the implementation of regional waste management plans, through innovation, equipment, skills, prevention and exchange. 

• Finance ClimAct: This project supports savers, financial institutions and companies to integrate climate issues into their investment decisions, aligning financial flows with energy-climate objectives and strengthening the resilience of the financial system to climate risks.  

• LIFE WOODTECH: This project aims to transcend European wood to dramatically decrease the CO2 footprint of the construction industry, using innovative techniques to enhance the durability and performance of wood products. 

• LIFE ADAPTO: A project that explores solutions to the impacts of climate change on the coast by advocating adaptive coastal management, conducting experimental approaches on selected sites and applying a frame of reference and analysis of the context. 

During its two-day presence at Pollutec, with the assistance of the European Enterprise Network (ENN), Green Assist participated in numerous networking and pitch sessions with potential beneficiaries, most of them being SMEs. This highlights the complementarities between the actions conducted by EEN and an initiative that is directly run and funded by the European Commission through the LIFE programme - such as Green Assist. 

As Pollutec 2023 came to an end, the event left a lasting impact, inspiring collaborative efforts toward a more sustainable future. 

If your LIFE project plans to join an international event, please cinea-communication-lifeec [dot] europa [dot] eu (let the CINEA LIFE Communication Team) know. This way it can be considered and featured on the LIFE Programme’s communication channels.