Plant One was borne of strong desire of parties in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond port area to be up with the international front-runners in terms of sustainability, too. The Port of Rotterdam Authority, Deltalinqs, the City of Rotterdam and DCMR Environmental Protection Agency Rijnmond are collaborating in the Rotterdam Climate Initiative (RCI) with the aim of halving CO₂ emissions by 2025 relative to 1990. Speeding up developments in sustainable process technology is a key tool in pursuit of that mission: the faster sustainable innovations are ready for industrial-scale application, the sooner emissions and other environmental impacts can be reduced. Plant One provides all the facilities required to contribute to this process. Thanks to Plant One, a greater proportion of promising innovations can be worked up into practicable processes in less time with lower investment risks. For the Rotterdam Climate Initiative this was good reason to support Plant One right from the start.

One of the main tools for elaborating ‘competitive sustainability’ are Best Available Technologies: the most effective technologies for preventing or controlling the environmental impacts of business activities, duly weighed up against costs and benefits. In this context Plant One distinguishes technologies for reducing noxious emissions, cutting CO₂ emissions and improving energy efficiency and supply chain efficiency.