Prof. Leitner is nominated for the European Inventor Award of the European Patent Office for the development of a new technique for the use of CO2. He is head of “Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry” at RWTH Aachen University and director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mühlheim/Ruhr. The new process he co-developed uses chemical catalysts to produce sustainable plastics from CO2 together with conventional raw materials. Since CO2 only forms chemical compounds to a very limited extent, this is a major breakthrough and a contribution to a CO2 circular economy. Conventional oil as a carbon source is replaced by recycled climate gas. Global Energy Solutions is pursuing the same goal, primarily in the energy sector.