In 2008, the footballer Mathieu Flamini moved from Arsenal, where he had spent four years as a tough but stylish midfielder, to AC Milan in the Italian Serie A. At the same time, unknown to his colleagues in the dressing room of the San Siro, another journey began.
Flamini, now 38, grew up in Marseille in the south of France. Football was of course his first passion, but living so close to the sea also made him aware of sustainability – he could see the plastic washing up on the coast and he was inspired by the environmental activism of the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau.
When he moved to Italy, he and a friend – Pasquale Granata – started organizing meetings with scientists and academics, looking for opportunities in the field of sustainability. Over time, they narrowed their focus to “green chemistry” and founded GFBiochemicals.
Its lead product is an obscure molecule called levulinic acid, which GFBiochemicals spent a decade figuring out how to make mass production from agricultural waste products. It may sound niche, even boring – a world away from the usual footballer activities of NFTs and fashion labels – but it can be transformative. It offers, Flamini says, a “plant-based” alternative to oil-derived chemicals that can be used in thousands of products, from paints to cosmetics.
Flamini was recently named CEO of GFBiochemicals, which has secured a €15 million (approximately $14.9 million) investment to bring its products out of the lab and into industry. Levulinic acid is a building block – a platform that can be adapted and adapted to the requirements of different industries. GFBiochemicals already has nearly 200 patents for plant-based solvents, polyols and plasticizers – all things that can replace substances extracted from fossil fuels, which contain toxic or non-biodegradable byproducts.
“There is a huge transition taking place in the chemical industry today,” says Flamini. “And this transition is being accelerated by two factors.” The first is policy: the European Union is tackling thousands of harmful substances and forcing industry to try and replace them with something cleaner. The second driver is public awareness of the potentially harmful impact on ecosystems of chemicals that do not dissolve over time.
“We allow the replacement of those obsolete molecules, which have a negative impact on the planet, with new molecules that contain CO2 emissions and are biodegradable and non-toxic,” he says. Flamini adds that the company has conducted a life cycle assessment of its plant-based solvent showing it can reduce CO emissions2 emissions by 80 percent compared to the fossil fuel-derived equivalent.
Flamini hopes to reduce the percentage of extracted oil that is refined and used to make consumer products – a share that will increase as countries become decarbonised, and is expected to reach 50 percent by 2050. “Everyone is talking about fighting climate change and reducing CO2 emissions, but why not talk about the petrochemical industry, which we all deal with on a daily basis?” he says.
