Each year, plagues and vegetal illnesses evoque million of losses on world agriculture
Every year, plant pests and diseases cause losses running into millions in global agriculture. For decades, the main tool for combating them has been the use of chemical plant protection products. However, the emergence of resistance, increasing regulatory restrictions and the need to protect biodiversity are driving the development of more selective and sustainable alternatives. Among these, one technology is attracting enormous interest: biopesticides based on RNA interference (RNAi).
What is RNA interference (RNAi)?
Although the name may seem complex, the way it works is based on a simple principle. Rather than indiscriminately eliminating a pest using a chemical compound, RNAi makes it possible to ‘silence’ specific genes that are essential for the pest’s survival or its ability to cause disease. This is a natural mechanism present in virtually all eukaryotes, which regulates the expression of certain genes via small double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules. When these molecules are taken up by the target organism, they block the production of essential proteins and reduce its ability to grow, feed or infect the plant.
This high specificity is one of the greatest advantages of RNAi over conventional pesticides. Whilst a chemical insecticide may also affect beneficial insects or other organisms in the ecosystem, an RNAi-based biopesticide can be designed to act solely on a specific species or even on a specific biological process. Furthermore, RNA molecules degrade naturally in the environment, reducing the persistence of residues and their environmental impact.
Another particularly interesting feature is its flexibility. Once a key gene in the target organism has been identified, it is possible to design new RNA molecules in a relatively short time, making it easier to respond quickly to new pests or to organisms that have developed resistance to traditional treatments.
SIGS: apply RNAi through spraying
Currently, this technology can be applied using two main strategies. The first involves developing plants capable of producing these RNA molecules internally, an effective approach but one associated with the use of genetically modified organisms. The second, known as Spray-Induced Gene Silencing (SIGS), simply involves spraying dsRNA onto plants, in a similar way to a conventional plant protection treatment. Once deposited on the plant’s surface, the molecules can be absorbed by the pest or pathogen and trigger the gene silencing mechanism. This strategy offers great versatility, as it can be used on different crops, allows the timing of application to be determined, and avoids the need to genetically modify the plant.
Interest in this approach has grown rapidly in recent years and has already led to significant regulatory advances. In 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved Ledprona, the first sprayable dsRNA-based biopesticide for the control of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), marking a milestone in the market launch of this technology. As with any emerging technology, there are still challenges that need to be resolved before it can be widely adopted. One of the main challenges is the stability of RNA, as these molecules can degrade rapidly due to ultraviolet radiation, rain, temperature or certain enzymes present both in the environment and in the target organisms themselves. It is also essential to select the correct gene to target, ensuring high efficacy and minimising any potential effects on non-target organisms. Consequently, much of the current research focuses on developing new formulations capable of protecting dsRNA using nanoparticles, liposomes or biological vesicles, as well as on optimising its large-scale production and advancing regulatory and environmental assessment processes.
The SUPERA project: how CARTIF is developing new RNAi-based solutions
In this context, CARTIF is actively involved in developing these new strategies through the SUPERA project (Sustainable plant health through RNAi to reduce the impact of diseases on agriculture and forests), coordinated by the University of Valladolid in collaboration with the CSIC and IDAI Nature. The aim of the project has been to develop innovative RNAi-based solutions to combat diseases caused by fungi and oomycetes that affect both agricultural crops and forest species. During the project, essential genes were identified in highly significant pathogens, such as Fusarium and Phytophthora, and specific dsRNA molecules were designed to reduce the expression of these genes. At the same time, production processes using bacterial fermentation were optimised, and encapsulation strategies were developed to improve the stability of the molecules and facilitate their application via foliar and root treatments, bringing this technology closer to future real-world applications in agriculture. The results obtained demonstrate that RNAi has evolved from being merely a tool for basic research into a technological platform with enormous potential for developing a new generation of biopesticides that are more precise, sustainable and environmentally friendly. Although there are still scientific and regulatory challenges to be overcome, all the signs suggest that, over the coming years, this technology will play an increasingly important role in integrated crop protection strategies, contributing to a more efficient and resilient agricultural sector that is aligned with the sustainability goals demanded by society.
Nowadays both air quality and climate change are two themes that are of interest and cause concern to municipalities. Even they are closely related, it´s a case of different problems that requires analysis tools and specific action strategies.In order to design policies tailored to the actual situation in each city, there are no generic measures or decisions to be taken; rather, it is essential to have objective numerical values in order to act efficiently and justifiably.essential to count with nu
In both cases are involved issued gases by the human activity, although not all has the same effect. In one side, atmospheric pollutants affect directly to air quality (nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, ammonia or even particulate matter, which, although not gases, have a significant impact on health). On the other side, greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide or fluorinated gases, which main effect is contribute to global warming.
But les us now focus on the gases that need to be taken into account in local authority policies to combat climate change and move towards climate neutrality, without forgiven that other pollutants are crucial to air quality and health protection policies.
How to measure the emissions of a municipality: the base to design efficient climate policies
If we look at it at the molecular level and we analyse the properties of these gases, we see that some atmospheric pollutants has direct effects over human health, while some certain greenhouse effect gases has an elevated capacity to mantain heat at the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. But if we focus on urban inventories linked to energy consume, emissions volume and by presence on the main emissions sources, the reference gas it is usually the carbon dioxide. In fact, when all greenhouse effect gases are considerer together, their emissions are usually expressed such as equivalent CO2 (Co2eq), a unit that takes into account the different Global Warming Potential (GWP) of each gas and allows them to be compared against a single benchmark.
The prevalence of carbon dioxide in the energy sectors means that it is the predominant gas in most urban emissions inventories. However, in sectors such as waste management, wastewater treatment and certain agricultural and livestock activities, methane and nitrous oxide can account for a significant proportion of emissions.
What is a Reference Emissions Inventory (IER)?
To know where these emissions originate and reduce them in an efficient way, municipalities elaborate a Reference Emissions Inventory (IER). These tools allow quantify emissions associated with different activities developed on the city and constitute the starting point to design climate policies based on data.
In the methodology we use at CARTIF, the inventory organiza the information in three main areas: city council area, PACES analysis area and municipal area. First one evaluate emissions of different areas of the own city council, such as, transport, own fleet, own energy production, etc. Second one is maned in that way because the clasification is inherited fromPlans of Action for the Climate and Energy Sustainable (PACES), an estrategy boost on the framework of Convenant of Mayors that help municipalities to reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency and adapt to climate change. And finally municipal area, which consists of everything not included in the previous one, such as industry or agricultural and livestock (primary), even we have to take into account isn´t a rigid clasification.
What is a Reference Emissions Inventory (IER)?
A municipal emissions inventory is a tool that quantifies the greenhouse gas emissions generated by a city’s activities. It enables the identification of the main sources of emissions and the design of data-driven climate policies to move towards climate neutrality.
How is a municipal emissions inventory calculated?
Inside the sector of each area, the calculations of these emissions should face two major obstacles: on the one hand, the availability of the needed data, where for example city council data is directyl accesible while data such as fossil fuel consume in industry or in residencial buildings requires estimation and stadistical disaggregation processes, as they are not usually available at the required level of municipal detail. On the other hand, for some areas such as transport, it is necessary to work with information such as street network or a selection of communication nodes to generate data in an indirect way that allows realizing a coheretn statistical evaluation. All of this highlights the importance of counting with specialised equipments able to combine data from different sources, apply international recognised methodologies and obtain consistent inventories and comparable in time.
In most urban sectors, particularly those related to energy consumption, emissions are estimated on the basis of the energy consumed (or produced). However, there are sectors such as waste management, certain industrial processes or some agricultural activities where emissions are calculated using other specific parameters. Each energy source or activity has a specific emission factor that relates the unit of consumption or activity (kWh of electricity, litres of fuel, Nm³ of natural gas, tonnes of waste, etc.) to the emissions generated, expressed in tonnes of the corresponding gas or, when different greenhouse gases are aggregated, in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂eq).
Within each sector, consumption and emissions figures are normally broken down by energy source used and, where appropriate, by further sub-categories, such as vehicle types in the transport sector or municipal areas in the utilities sector. Furthermore, it is useful to present aggregated figures by sector and by year, as this allows the trends in consumption and emissions over time to be visualised from the reference year (known as the ‘baseline’) to the most recent year for which data is available.
From data to action: how an inventory helps reduce emissions
At CARTIF, we have carried out various emissions studies for towns and cities, both as part of the Covenant of Mayors initiative — as in the case of Logroño — and through specific studies for local councils, such as Ponferrada. This work provides an objective snapshot of each municipality’s starting point and forms the basis for developing Action Plans, assessing climate risks, prioritising investments and measuring the actual impact of public policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
👉 Does your local authority need to draw up or update its emissions inventory? At CARTIF, we help local authorities quantify their emissions, define decarbonisation strategies and design climate plans based on scientific evidence. Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help you.
The value of innovation in a sector where any change can affect the registration of a medicine
The pharmaceutical industry needa to innovate in a continuous way to optimize its processes, increase efficiency, reduce development times and respond to scientific and technological challenges of a increasingly demanding market. However, it has to do it in a high regulated environment, in which pacient security is a essential requirement.
At this industry, the client is, in las instance, the pacient. This reality means that any innovation has consequences that go far beyond mere technical feasibility. Un like other industrial sector, introducing a new technology it is not just demonstrating that it works; it also has to be guarantee that it´s implementation doesn´t commits quality, security and neither the efficiency of the medicine.
Module
Main content
1
Administrative and legal information
2
Quality, security and effectiveness sum ups
3
Medicine quality
4
Non-clinical studies
5
Clinical studies
This requirement it´s articulated through the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), the joint of rules that regulate the manufacturing of medicines to assure that they are produced in a cohesive way and with the quality levels required from the health authorities.
However, the scope of the GMP goes further that the main manufacture process. It also affect to areas and facilities, services such as water, air, vapour, manufacture and conditioning equipments, IT equipments, analytical methodes and, in general, to any element that can influence on product quality and safety.
All this information is part of the Quality module, known as CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls), integrated on the dossier or registration file of the medicine. It documents how the product is manufactured, with what equipment, under which conditions and throughout which quality controls. The approval of this file from health authorities is which allows the commercialization of the medicine.
In consequence, a modification that, at first, could seem unrelated to the medicine (such as implementing a new software, installing a collaborative robot, implementing a artificial vision system or modifying a productive operation) could affect to processes previously validated that are part of the documentation presented to regulatory bodies.
These type of changes requires the development of risks analysis, qualification and validation activities previous its implementation, the updating of documents and, also, the processing of regulatory modifications.
In other words, at the pharmaceutical industry is not enough with introducing a technological improvement. It is necessary to demonstrate with documents that the change is justified, evaluated, validated and control, so that the medicine compliant can be maintaines during its life cycle.
For that reason, any change implies a significant investment of time, resources and costs for the pharmaceutical companies. The greater is the potential impact on a process or a registered product, higher would be the effort required to implement that innovation with all the guarantees.
The need of innovation spaces pre-GMP
The GMP environments are design to guarantee the most robustness, traceability and control of the productive processes. Precisely for that reason, not always constitute the most adequate scenario to experiment with emerging technologies or develop concep test in its initial phases.
Innovation requires of creativity, capacity to explire different approaches, flexibility to experiment and margin to iterate about different technological alternatives before reaching a sufficiently mature solution for its industrial implementation.
It is precisely on that point where technology centres contributes a differential value.
Pre-GMP enviroments allows to evaluate new technologies, validate concepts, quantify benefits and reduce technical uncertainities before facing the demanding pahes of validation and implementation on a regulated environment. In this way, comapnies can take decisions with a more solid technical base and minimize risks associated to the incorporation of new solutions.
CARTIF´s contribution to the pharmaceutical innovation
CARTIF can contribute to the pharmaceutical innovation in three strategic ambits:
Innovation in processes and products
The optimization of chemical and biotechnological processes, the industrial scale and the improvement of productive operations continue to be priority fields for the pharmaceutical industry.
Operations such as extraction, spray drying, fermentation or chemistry synthesis continue offering a wide margin for innovation. At the same time, these more classical technologies live with other challenges associated to development and manufacture of advances therapies, such as genetic, cellular and tissular therapies, that plan new tehcnological and productive needs to which from CARTIF we have to look.
Industry 4.0 for smarter production
New technologies offer important opportunities to improve the efficiency of processes without the need of step in directly over productive systems already validated or work on not accessible environments for product or operator protection
Technologies such as digital twin, artificial intelligence, artificial vision, advance analytic, collaborative robotic or augmented reality allows optimize the decision-making, reinforce the support for the operation and improve the efficiency in those environments where the accesse to the process is limited or where any direct intervention involves a high degree of complexity, as is the case in the aseptic manufacture of sterile products or high-potency products such as hormonal or cytotoxic agents.
Sustainability and energy efficiency
Optimising resource use, improving energy efficiency and developing circular economy strategies represent an opportunity to simultaneously enhance both the environmental sustainability and competitiveness of pharmaceutical companies.
The implementation of solutions that reduce the energy consume, minimize the residues generation and promote a more efficient use of the resources allows advance through more sustainable productive models without resign to high quality standars that requires the sector.
CARTIF: innovate in non GMP environment, but thinking on GMP
The activity we develop at CARTIF is focused mainly in the stages leading up to industrial implementation and regulatory validation processes. However, working on pre-GMP environment doesn´t mean working aside from the requirements that will condition the future development or implementation of the technology.
Our role is help pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies to explore new solutions, validate emerging technologies and reduce the technical uncertainty before facing the complex stages of implementation on a regulated environment.
Because, although we work before GMP, we innovate thinking on an environment where our knowledge of the sector and its practices are essential so that any innovation could reach the market.
From CARTIF we not only act such as applied knowledge generators, but also as catalysts for innovation ecosystems that boost the development, validation and adoption of new technologies by the pharamceutical industry.
A technological ally for pharmaceutical innovation
From CARTIF we understand the innovation such a process focused on generate useful, applied and transferable knowledge. Pharmaceutical industry needs spaces to experiment with the flexibility needed to transform new ideas on viable industrial solutions, without losing sight of the regulatory requirements that will condition their future implementation.
Because, in a sector where operational excellence is inextricably linked to regulatory compliance, innovation requires a combination of creativity, scientific knowledge and industrial vision. Having environments in which to develop and refine new technologies before their implementation under GMP conditions constitutes a strategic advantage for reducing risks, accelerating technological development and facilitating the bringing of innovation to market.
In a context where any changecould can have impact on the registration of a medicine, innovating prior to GMP doesn´t mean innovating aside from GMP, but rather doing so with GMP in mind from the outset.
👉 If your company is exploring new technologies to optimise pharmaceutical processes, carry out R&D projects or prepare for future GMP implementations, at CARTIF we can help you validate solutions and mitigate technological risks.
The energy and digital transition is transforming our economy at an unprecedented rate. Electric vehicles, renewable energy, energy storage, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and smart grids are all technologies set to play a key role in the coming decades. However, they all have one thing in common: they rely on a range of raw materials, the availability of which has become a strategic concern worldwide.
Lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and phosphorus are some examples of so-called critical materials – resources that are essential for the manufacture of batteries, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, semiconductors, fertilisers and numerous electronic devices. Their importance is such that the European Union regularly updates a list of Critical Raw Materials (CRM) to identify those resources whose scarcity or dependence on external sources could jeopardise the competitiveness and security of the European economy.
Europe is in a particularly vulnerable position. Although it consumes a significant proportion of these materials, it has limited capacity to produce and process them, relying heavily on imports from third countries. In some cases, virtually the entire supply is concentrated among a small number of international suppliers, giving rise to significant economic, industrial and geopolitical risks.
In Spain, we face the same situation. Although we have certain mineral resources and a long tradition of mining, we continue to rely heavily on imports to supply strategic sectors. This dependence is particularly significant in a context where demand for critical materials continues to grow, driven by the decarbonisation, electrification and digitalisation of the economy.
However, there is an opportunity that has remained in the background for decades. Beyond conventional geological resources, we have a vast quantity of valuable materials found in streams that we usually regard as waste or by-products. What has so far been seen as an environmental problem could become a strategic source of raw materials to strengthen our industrial autonomy.
When waste becomes a goldmine of opportunity
Traditionally, the extraction of raw materials has been associated with conventional mining. However, in recent years the concept of ‘urban mining’ has gained momentum; this approach views the waste generated by our society as genuine deposits of resources.
One of the most obvious examples is lithium-ion batteries. The exponential growth in electric vehicles and energy storage systems will mean that millions of batteries will reach the end of their useful life over the coming decades. This waste contains significant quantities of lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite – materials whose primary extraction is often associated with high economic, environmental and social costs
Extraction of materials from a lithium-ion battery at the end of its service life
Recovering these materials using advanced recycling technologies allows them to be reintroduced into the value chain, reducing the need to import new raw materials and minimising the environmental impact associated with their extraction.
A similar phenomenon occurs with photovoltaic panels. Although most existing installations remain in operation, the number of modules reaching the end of their useful life will increase significantly in the coming years. In addition to glass and aluminium, these panels contain silver, high-purity silicon and other strategic materials, the recovery of which can help to close the production cycle for new renewable technologies.
The enormous potential of electronic waste
Waste electrical and electronic equipment is another of the most promising sources of critical materials. Computers, mobile phones, televisions, telecommunications equipment and a wide range of other devices contain valuable metals which, in many cases, occur in higher concentrations than those found in some currently mined ore deposits.
Rare earths, indium, gallium, copper, gold, silver and palladium are just a few examples of the elements found in this electronic waste. However, a significant proportion continues to be lost due to inadequate collection systems or recycling processes that fail to recover all the materials present.
Improvements in separation, sorting and recovery technologies can transform this waste into one of Europe’s main sources of strategic raw materials.
The hidden legacy of mining
Paradoxically, some of the future sources of critical materials could be found precisely in the waste generated by past mining operations. For decades, mining produced enormous quantities of waste rock, spoil heaps and tailings ponds, the composition of which was assessed solely on the basis of the resources that were economically viable at the time. Many elements that we now consider critical had no commercial value at the time and were left stored in these deposits.
We now know that many types of mining waste contain significant concentrations of rare earth elements, cobalt, scandium, germanium, antimony and other strategic materials. The application of new characterisation and recovery technologies is enabling us to reconsider these environmental liabilities as potential resources.
So-called ‘reminería’ also offers an additional advantage: it enables the recovery of valuable materials whilst contributing to the environmental restoration of degraded areas, thereby reducing the risks associated with soil and water pollution. In Spain, which has a long history of mining, these deposits represent an opportunity that has yet to be fully explored.
Industries also harbour valuable resources
Numerous industrial processes generate waste streams with significant potential for the recovery of critical materials. Steel slag, steelworks dust, industrial ash, metallurgical sludge and certain types of waste from the chemical industry contain strategic elements which, in many cases, end up being used in low-value applications or even sent for disposal.
Hydrometallurgical, electrochemical and biotechnological processes are demonstrating that it is possible to recover materials such as zinc, vanadium, manganese, chromium, gallium and rare earths from these streams. This approach not only reduces the need for primary extraction, but also fits perfectly with the principles of the circular economy, where waste from one activity becomes a resource for another.
The case of spent catalysts used in the chemical, petrochemical and energy industries also deserves special attention. These materials contain metals of high economic value, the recovery of which is becoming increasingly attractive from both a technical and strategic perspective.
Phosphorus: a critical material for food sovereignty
When people talk about critical materials, they usually think of batteries, semiconductors or renewable technologies. However, one of Europe’s most strategic resources is phosphorus, which we might call ‘the jewel in the crown’.
This element is essential for the production of fertilisers and, consequently, for agriculture and food security. Unlike other resources, there is no known substitute for its biological function, which makes its availability a matter of global concern.
Europe is heavily dependent on imports of phosphate rock and phosphate fertilisers, which are concentrated in a small number of countries. Consequently, the recovery of phosphorus from secondary sources has become an increasing priority.
Sewage sludge, ash from its incineration, digestate produced in biogas plants, livestock manure and certain agri-food waste contain significant amounts of phosphorus that can be recovered and reused in the production of fertilisers.
As well as strengthening industrial self-sufficiency, these strategies help to improve our food sovereignty and reduce the pressure on limited natural resources.
The unseen resources of rivers, reservoirs and seas
There are also potential sources that have only just begun to attract attention. Sediments accumulated in rivers, reservoirs, harbours and coastal areas contain materials that have been transported over decades by industrial, mining and urban activities. At certain sites, these sediments contain significant concentrations of metals that could be recovered using appropriate technologies.
A waterproof membrane used in water treatment processes.
Regular dredging operations generate large volumes of material that are usually managed as waste or used for purposes with little added value. However, a more detailed characterisation could reveal currently untapped opportunities for recovery. A similar situation applies to certain seabeds, where the presence of minerals rich in manganese, nickel, copper or cobalt has sparked growing international interest. Although the direct exploitation of these resources poses significant environmental challenges, their existence highlights that there are still numerous potential sources yet to be investigated.
A matter of industrial sovereignty
Recovering critical materials from secondary sources will not completely eliminate the need for imports, nor will it replace conventional mining. However, it can play a decisive role in strengthening European industrial resilience and reducing our exposure to increasingly uncertain international markets.
To achieve this, it will be necessary to develop more efficient recovery and separation technologies, improve waste collection and traceability systems, promote favourable regulatory frameworks, and encourage collaboration between public authorities, businesses and technology centres.
Ultimately, the transition to a more sustainable economy will depend not only on discovering new resources, but also on our ability to recognise the value of those we already have. Spent batteries, disused solar panels, mining waste, industrial slag, sewage sludge, river sediments and electronic waste constitute veritable reserves of critical materials scattered across our territory.
Perhaps the most important mines of the future are not those that have yet to be mined, but those we have been creating for years without being fully aware of their value. Making the most of them could become one of the keys to strengthening the industrial, technological and food sovereignty of Spain and Europe in the coming decades.
In recent years, energy prices have become a central variable for industry, thermal networks and, more broadly, for any heat decarbonisation strategy. In this context, a simple but very useful indicator for interpreting market trends is the electricity to gas price ratio, meaning the relationship between electricity and natural gas prices expressed in the same energy unit.
This ratio does not replace a full techno economic assessment, but it does help answer a very practical question: in which contexts can heat electrification, for example through heat pumps, be more attractive than gas based solutions.
What the electricity to gas ratio means
In simple terms, the ratio is defined as:
ratio = electricity price / gas price
If the ratio increases, electricity is relatively more expensive than gas. If it decreases, electricity becomes relatively more competitive.
The key point is that this indicator should be read alongside technology performance. For a heat pump (HP), the cost of useful heat depends on the electricity price, but also on its COP. Therefore, the higher the electricity to gas ratio, the higher the performance required from an electric technology to compete economically with a conventional solution.
Even so, it is best seen as a first contextual signal rather than a final decision: the ratio does not account for investment, operation and maintenance, integration constraints, waste heat availability or regulatory frameworks. That is why it works best when combined with technical results and more detailed analyses, helping to steer innovation, exploitation and transfer strategies without losing sight of market reality.
How the data were collected
For this analysis, electricity and gas price data were collected for different European countries, using Eurostat1 mainly as the reference source for the historical series and for 2025. Based on these inputs, both prices were harmonised into the same energy unit to calculate the ratio consistently.
In this type of exercise, it is important to be clear that the outcome depends on several assumptions: customer category, treatment of taxes, consumption band, and the availability of national data. In some cases, particularly for countries outside Eurostat’s1 standard coverage, it may be necessary to use complementary national sources.
A first look, the 2025 European map
A very intuitive way to represent the ratio is through a European map. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the electricity to gas ratio for 2025.
Fig 1. European map of the electricity to gas ratio in 2025
The first takeaway is clear: Europe does not behave uniformly. Some countries show relatively low ratios, especially in the Nordic region, while others show significantly higher ratios, such as the United Kingdom and some countries in southern and eastern Europe.
The European Union average in 2025 is around 2.96, which already provides a useful reference for interpreting each country’s relative position. Countries such as Sweden or Finland show clearly lower values, suggesting a more favourable environment for electrification. By contrast, high values such as those observed in the United Kingdom, Italy or Greece indicate that, in those contexts, the economic competitiveness of electric solutions depends even more on achieving high performance.
A table to see the evolution in more detail
While Figure 1 provides a global snapshot, the time evolution tells another part of the story. For this reason, Table 1 includes five country cases with very different profiles, plus the European Union average; it covers 2007, 2015, 2025 and a simple extension of the trend to 2035.
Figura 2. Evolution of the electricity to gas ratio in Sweden, France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom for 2007, 2015, 2025 and 2035.
In the table, the green shading marks cases where, assuming an average HP COP of 3 and a gas boiler efficiency of 0.9, the price context is more favourable for an HP than for a gas boiler, meaning the electricity to gas ratio is less than or equal to 3/0.9, approximately 3.33, without considering investment or operation.
What trends emerge from the results
Several interesting observations can be drawn from the historical series. First, the ratio has not been stable over time. The evolution between 2007 and 2025 shows significant volatility, confirming that market context can change substantially and directly affect the economic viability of electrified technologies.
Second, the 2025 map confirms strong regional differentiation. Northern Europe generally shows lower ratios, while other countries exhibit more strained relationships between electricity and gas prices. This means the same technological solution does not start from the same economic baseline across countries.
Third, cross country comparison makes it clear that the ratio can be used as a quick reading tool to identify where certain solutions, such as industrial heat pumps, could find a more favourable market entry point.
Finally, the 2035 value should not be interpreted as a prediction. It is a simple extension of the trend observed in the historical series, included only to facilitate reading and to open a discussion on possible trajectories. It can still be useful to explore how market conditions might evolve and what that could imply for the future exploitation of clean heat technologies.
Link to PUSH2HEAT, why this matters for the project
Within PUSH2HEAT, CARTIF is working on the analysis and preparation of exploitation routes and adoption pathways for heat decarbonisation solutions, with a clear focus on industrial contexts and on bringing technologies to market with realistic criteria.
One of the project’s goals is that solutions do not remain as “something that works”, but that they make sense in real world scenarios, with market signals, operational constraints and replicability needs. In that framework, the electricity to gas ratio is a simple but very practical piece to contextualise opportunities by region, and to support exploitation messages with a quantitative basis that is easy to communicate.
From neon lights to the laboratory: how cold plasma reduces microorganisms and food waste
Well… sort of, although they do have one important thing in common: both phenomena are related to plasma.
So, what exactly is plasma? It is the fourth state of matter, apart from the ones we already know: solid, liquid and gas. It is similar to the gaseous state, but goes a step further, because the particles in plasma are ionised, that is to say, electrically charged. We achieve the transition from gas to plasma by applying energy to the gas. If the energy applied is in the form of heat, we get thermal plasma, and if it is via another energy source, such as electricity, then the plasma will be cold or non-thermal, reaching a much lower temperature than the former.
Although it might sound a bit far-fetched, I’m sure you’ve played with a plasma sphere like the one in the picture at a science museum at some point.
And… how does this apply in the laboratory? Excellent question! As we mentioned, plasma is made up of electrically charged particles: reactive species, which vary depending on the gas that has been ionised into plasma. In the case of air, the reactive species will be nitrogen and oxygen, known as RONS. As they are electrically charged, they are capable of reacting with their surroundings, changing their properties. For example, if we apply them to a surface, we can modify it to make it more water-repellent or water-attracting.
Plasma sphere. Source: National Geographic
However, one of the most interesting applications of plasma lies in its ability to decontaminate. Reactive species can ‘attack’ microorganisms and enzymes, thereby reducing the microbial load in a wide range of settings—from surfaces and utensils to entire environments—and preventing, amongst other things, cross-contamination.
Effects of cold plasma on microorganisms. Source: Food Eng Rev
As well as being easy to apply, it offers other advantages, such as leaving no toxic residues, as the reactive species recombine after a short period of time, reverting to their original gaseous state.
This opens up a wide range of possibilities for inactivating spoilage microorganisms—and, in some cases, pathogens—that cause food to spoil by producing unpleasant odours and tastes or causing discolouration. In this way, we help to improve food safety, extend the shelf life of products and, in doing so, reduce food waste.
Although plasma may seem like something straight out of science fiction, it is a promising tool for improving food safety and reducing food waste. At CARTIF’s Food Area, we are working precisely to promote this kind of innovative technology, which contributes to a safer, more efficient and more sustainable agri-food industry.
