Microorganisms for a circular bioeconomy to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and reduce pollution

Microorganisms for a circular bioeconomy to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and reduce pollution: The greatest global and human-induced challenges of our time are climate change caused by fossil fuels, global pollution, and rapidly evolving infections in plants, humans, and animals. To address the necessary global changes, a dramatic transformation in science and society must take place. This change will require very intensive and forward-looking industrial and basic research, strongly focused on the development of (bio)technologies and industrial bioprocesses towards a low carbon sustainable bioeconomy. In this transition, efficient microorganisms will play a significant and global role as technology drivers. They harbor in their genomes the keys and blueprints for sustainable biotechnology. In this article, we outline urgent and important areas of microbial research and technological development that will ultimately contribute significantly to the transition from a linear to a circular bioeconomy.