Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) is collaborating with the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) to develop scalable methods of converting captured CO2 into sugar.
Through its innovation investment platform, CCEP Ventures, the initial investment will support the Peidong Yang Research Group on foundational research, focusing on enabling the production of sugar from CO2 on site and at an industrial level. It’s expected that future investments will drive scale from lab to pilot.
This investment demonstrates the role innovation can play in CCEP’s journey to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Lab scale prototypes could make the next generation of essential raw and packaging materials more sustainable. It could reduce some of the largest CO2 contributors in supply chains while saving material, transportation and logistics costs.
With agricultural ingredients, including sugar, amounting to about a quarter of CCEP’s overall carbon footprint, this technology could reduce emissions associated with sugar manufacturing processes. It could also positively contribute to optimising land usage as less arable land becomes available due to global population growth.
In the long term, this technology may also make converting CO2 into PET plastic more efficient by reducing the need for crude oil in the manufacturing process, and significantly lowering costs.
“At CCEP, we want to grow sustainably, producing beverages that people love while helping to build a better future for our business, communities and the planet,” CCEP Ventures head Craig Twyford said.
“CCEP Ventures is helping us find solutions to industry challenges and provide funding to make these foundational technologies a reality. We’re excited to be involved in this project that could lead the industry in the development of transformational technology capable of converting CO2 into more complex, usable goods.”
According to UCB Professor Peidong Yang, air to sugar conversion could significantly impact our ability to preserve the natural world.
“This is a bold scientific vision that would bring immediate environmental benefits, fundamentally transforming the production and distribution of goods across the world,” Yang said.
“We are pleased to be working with CCEP Ventures on research that could make a significant impact on our ability to create a more sustainable future.”
The Peidong Yang Group at UCB received a prize from NASA for a viable prototype for conversion of CO2 to sugar for potential use on long-haul space missions.