In pursuing its mission to perform world-class research in fundamental physics, CERN pushes the frontiers of technology. It also identifies key technologies with a potential impact on a wide range of applications of benefit to society, notably for the environment.

The Laboratory has defined a preliminary high-level strategy for transforming CERN technology into environmental applications (see In focus below). In 2022, the CERN Innovation Programme on Environmental Applications (CIPEA) was endorsed by the CERN Management, marking the first step in building a roadmap to expand the development of CERN's technologies that can potentially help to protect the environment. The programme invited the CERN community to come up with innovative ideas for environmental applications based on CERN’s technologies, knowledge and facilities, around four focus areas where CERN's know-how can be of use. These are renewable and low-carbon energy; clean transportation and future mobility; climate change and pollution control; and sustainability and green science.

Over thirty ideas were discussed, fifteen were submitted for consideration and eight were selected for further development with the financial support of external partners or CERN's Knowledge Transfer fund. The selected projects range from accelerator systems for cleantech and reduced pollution to vacuum technologies for the large-scale distribution of renewable energy, machine-learning algorithms for climate modelling and innovative systems for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at CERN and beyond.

Enrico Chesta, Environmental and Aerospace Applications Coordinator in CERN’s Knowledge Transfer group.

— How can CERN’s technology and know-how contribute to making our planet more sustainable?

EC: The CIPEA call for ideas we organised in 2022 helped to underline the potential of the CERN community's competences to help to tackle climate change. In parallel, we were solicited by external partners actively engaged in cleantech developments, as they wanted to benefit from CERN’s unique expertise to accelerate their innovation. This is why we started working on a preliminary roadmap for environmental applications and defining poles of competence where CERN resources can be clustered and fostered to achieve the most impactful results.

— What are some examples of promising CERN poles of competence in environmental applications?

EC: CERN expertise could greatly contribute to the development of compact magnetic confinement fusion reactors or accelerator-driven systems for nuclear waste transmutation. Superconducting transmission lines can help to distribute electricity without losses for grid and on-board applications. Know-how in materials, vacuum and cryogenics is critical for developing liquid-hydrogen storage systems. CERN’s detectors and irradiation facilities can help to improve the performance of instruments for in-situ and remote environmental monitoring, for instance through the development of compact radiation-tolerant equipment for Earth observation satellites. CERN’s AI platforms can support global climate models. Finally, many CERN-driven engineering systems optimised for low greenhouse gas emissions, such as integrated cooling systems or waveguide circulators without fluorinated gases, can be adopted by other research infrastructures facing similar challenges. The same is true for CERN’s high-energy efficiency systems, such as advanced klystrons or injection-locked magnetrons.

Questions regarding this report may be addressed to environment.report@cern.ch.