Urgent letter regarding the CO2 shortage

The shortage of externally produced CO2 could be the biggest bottleneck to enhancing the sustainability measures taken by the greenhouse horticulture sector. For this reason, I recently sent an urgent letter on behalf of Prominent's growers to the Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and 25 other government agencies, companies and organisations involved in this issue.

Our plants cannot grow without CO2. But because CHP installations are being phased out and our growers are increasingly using more renewable energy sources, they can no longer supply their own need for CO2. As a result, the greenhouse horticulture sector is buying more and more CO2 generated as a by-product of other processes. This last spring, the entire supply was sold out. The letter calls for the government agencies and other organisations involved in this issue to work with us in finding solutions.

Several research projects are currently being conducted: recovering CO2 from waste incineration, from using biomass as a source of energy production, from outside air, from industrial processes, etc. As yet, however, the holy grail is still out of reach. If solutions are not found, I think the future looks bleak indeed. The greenhouse horticulture sector is committed to being climate neutral by 2040, but our growers cannot reach this goal alone. This is why we are calling for everyone involved in this issue - the Minister of Agriculture, local and provincial levels of government, industry, the horticulture sector and researchers - to work really hard on finding solutions as quickly as possible. Let's join hands for even more sustainable cultivation practices!

Jacco Besuijen
Prominent's Energy Manager