Net Zero Tech is presented as a new meeting point between companies offering decarbonisation solutions and services and potential customers or end users. The topics addressed at the fair, which included several parallel conference sessions, were the improvement of energy efficiency in production processes, electrification of consumption, alternative fuels, carbon capture, the circular economy, etc.

In the "Case Studies Tech" section of the Fair, José Ignacio Hormaeche, General Manager of the Basque Energy Cluster, moderated the session dedicated to the European IS24HC project and, in particular, to BIH4C: the new innovation hub for the decarbonisation of Basque industry which was set up within the framework of the project. IS2H4C aims to drive the transformation of existing industrial areas by searching for and implementing energy synergies, the efficient use of resources and technological innovation, thereby setting up new sustainable regional development models. The project involves the creation of four industrial hubs in Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey and the Basque Country (the BIH4C), where various innovative decarbonisation technologies will be implemented and this new model will be demonstrated.

Four speakers took part in the round table. Cristina Oyón, Director of Technology, Innovation and Sustainability at SPRI - Basque Government, focused on the presentation of the Net Zero Basque Industrial SuperCluster (NZBISC) as the framework in which the Basque hub of the IS2H4C project is being developed. NZBISC is a strategic initiative promoted by SPRI, Iberdrola and Repsol-Petronor, with the support of the industrial clusters, which aims to accelerate the reduction of emissions in Basque industry and, at the same time, foster new opportunities for companies arising from the development of new technologies and innovative services. The initiative, which forms part of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero programme, works with industrial clusters and companies on decarbonisation technologies and cross-sector synergies, some of which will be demonstrated at BIH4C.

Nora Fernandez, Project Manager at Tecnalia, provided an overview of the IS2H4C project, delving into the intersectoral synergies and innovative technologies that will be addressed in the Basque Industrial Hub for Circularity (BIH4C), made up of 10 companies: led by Tecnalia and driven by the Energy Cluster, with the participation of Calcinor, Sidenor, SBS, Lointek, Petronor Innovación, Smurfit Kappa, Nortegas and the Bilbao Bizkaia Water Board.

Manu Nuñez, Director of Petronor Innovation, then presented the company's decarbonisation strategy and the industrial transformation it aspires to carry out in order to reach zero net emissions by 2050. In particular, he focused on the hydrogen-related initiatives they are promoting, such as the BH2C Basque Hydrogen Corridor. The aim of this initiative is to create a green hydrogen ecosystem in the Basque Country, through specific projects and actions, with a public-private collaboration strategy in which 74 entities are associated.

Finally, Aitor Pablos, Business Development Manager at SBS, provided an overview of the technologies that SBS is developing for the revalorisation of waste, focusing on the process of carbonation of steel slag that will be addressed within the IS2H4C project.