Prof. Dr. R.J. Koopmans against all odds

Why, after 40 years, the end of the fossil-fuel age is not insight?  In 1987, the first UN sustainability report (United Nations, 1987) was published by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WECB) putting the bold intentions forward of fostering: Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising...

Innovative Chemicals and Materials. Envision a future of materials that are renewable, repair themselves and can be shaped into any structural form with the desired functionality and performance. All this without complicated machinery and human intervention. Sounds like daydreaming but in fact describes the daily reality of natural processes. Look...

A Swissinfo.ch video[1] from 2019, “Why is plastic so hard to recycle?”, concludes: “We’re in 2019 and plastic waste management still seems to be a riddle in Switzerland.” Now, in 2026, the riddle still seems unsolved not only in Switzerland but also in the rest of the world. Indeed, plastics...

Opportunities and Challenges in the EU. If you have ever wondered how the ancient Greeks and Romans built their catapults without rubber, the answer lies in ingenious use of natural materials. They relied on what we would now call a circular bioeconomy, making the most of every available resource. Rubber...