Dubbed VégA, the workshop is taking shape in a world dominated by three major challenges, viz., reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, developing fossil fuel substitutes, and the limited availability of renewable natural resources. The workshop is also prompted by the determination to develop the bio-agro industry and improve energy self-sufficiency.
Set up after an ANR issued call for projects, the workshop, which is coordinated by INRA along with IFP and CIRAD, will be identifying plant species, annual and perennial plants and micro algae, and production systems able to satisfy demand from the new energy supply chains and the chemical industry, which are compatible with the targets for sustainability and which take account of all the inputs and environmental factors.
A wide range of biomass uses will be studied (biofuels, plant chemistry, direct energy-generating combustion, biomaterials, and so on) in the workshop that brings together some twenty partners, including public research organizations, colleges and universities, technical centers, industry operators, public players and association networks covering a wide field of skills and expertise.
