Converting CO2 into carbohydrates hopeful to mitigate climate change: expert

Converting CO2 into carbohydrates is hopeful to mitigate the climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce water and food shortages in developing countries, an expert said at the ongoing Zhongguancun Forum Saturday.

Life science is developing rapidly in the direction of being predictable, reproducible, and regulatable, providing an unprecedented knowledge environment for designing artificial biological systems and breaking the limitations set by forms and efficiency of natural biological energy utilization, said Ma Yanhe, director of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He made the speech on CO2 conversion and utilization by industrial biotechnology at the 2nd carbon peak and neutrality forum, a major event held by the Zhongguancun Forum.

In 2021, a research team from the TIB designed an artificial starch synthesis pathway consisting of only 11 core reactions, achieving complete synthesis from CO2 to starch molecules in the laboratory for the first time.

Ma said the new material production mode of synthesizing bulk agricultural and petrochemical products with CO2 as raw material will cause profound changes in social and economic forms.

This is also a promising way to mitigate climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, reduce pollution from fertilizers and pesticides, increase the world's food production capacity, and reduce water and food shortages in developing countries, he added.

He also mentioned the challenges faced by the synthesizing technology. The energy conversion efficiency should be improved, the enzyme protein catalyst should be more stable, and the catalyst cost should be lower.

The industrialization of agriculture is an opportunity for a change of paradigm. The development of green energy has brought in a strategic opportunity that can change the pattern of agriculture and industry, he said.

Co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the 2nd carbon peak and neutrality forum attracted about 400 representatives, with a focus on energy development strategies, advanced nuclear power, new power systems, renewable energy, and energy storage, and carbon reduction in industrial buildings and transportation.