Sonae Arauco is part of UNCOVER, a new Horizon Europe project that aims to accelerate the industrial deployment of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies, helping transform CO₂ emissions into valuable products and contributing to a more circular and low-carbon economy. 

Funded by the European Union with €7 million, the four-year project brings together 19 partners from eight European countries to demonstrate innovative technologies capable of converting captured CO₂ into products for the chemicals, fuels and construction sectors. 

UNCOVER will work with CO₂ emissions from three representative industrial environments, including Sonae Arauco’s plant in Valladolid. The project will demonstrate how CO₂ conversion technologies can be scaled up while improving their environmental performance, resource efficiency and economic viability. 

The technologies explored within the project will enable the production of a range of marketable products, including biomethanol, microalgal biomass, pigments and cement-based materials. Among the targeted applications are solutions with potential relevance for the wood-based panel industry, including the development of resins derived from CO₂-based feedstocks. 

As a member of the consortium, Sonae Arauco contributes to a collaborative European effort involving industrial companies, research organisations, universities and sector associations working to advance carbon utilisation technologies and support industrial decarbonisation. 

Coordinated by the Instituto Tecnológico de Aragón (ITA), with the University of Valladolid (UVA) as technical coordinator, UNCOVER aims to generate the technical and environmental evidence needed to support the future large-scale deployment of CO₂ utilisation technologies across Europe. 

Through initiatives such as UNCOVER, Sonae Arauco continues to engage in innovation projects that contribute to the development of more sustainable industrial solutions and support the transition towards a circular bioeconomy.