Strategy and Drivers for CO₂ (Re)use

The utilization of CO₂ as a feedstock for producing chemicals is an interesting challenge to explore new concepts and new opportunities for catalysis and industrial chemistry. It is an excellent possibility to inject renewable energy in the energy and chemical production chains, but a major current hurdle for a large-scale use is the need to further improve production routes for renewable H₂ by improving electrocatalysts and device technology in current electrolyzers. However, when cheap electrical energy from renewable sources is available, the use of CO₂ could be already economic. In the organic synthesis and polymer chemistry, new routes for activating CO₂ and producing valuable chemicals and/or materials are being developed. Electrocatalysis is also offering new possibilities, either to produce small organic molecules (fuels) to be used in conjunction or integrated with solar devices (for artificial leaf type systems), or as a valuable synthetic procedure. The main relevant aspects of these routes are summarized to present the status and outlooks, as well as the strategies, for carbon dioxide (re)use.