Welcome to ICCDU XXI (2024)

Xinwen Guo	Chunshan Song
Dalian University of Technology	The Chinese University of Hong Kong

   On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we are very pleased to invite researchers and professionals worldwide to Dalian for the 21^st International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (ICCDU 2024) to be held during June 17-21, 2024 in Shangri-La Hotel, Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China.

   ICCDU is the premier conference in the global research community of CO₂ utilization including CO₂ capture and CO₂ conversion, CO₂ utilization without conversion and emerging topics related to hydrogen energy, climate change, as well as and techno-economical and policy aspects. This annual conference insures its international nature by its International Scientific Committee (ISC) consisting of senior scholars in the field from many Asian, European and American countries and by rotating the venue between Asia, Europe, and America. The ICCDU 2024 conference follows ICCDU 2023 in Bari, Italy, and ICCDU 2022 in Princeton, USA.

   ICCDU had its origin in an international conference in Nagoya, Japan more than 3 decades ago in 1991. The second biennial ICCDU was held in Bari, Italy in 1993. The International Scientific Committee (ISC) was established for ICCDU early on which serves as the international organizing committee on the scientific direction and organization of ICCDU and to oversee the planning and execution of the organizing efforts for individual conferences in ICCDU. At ICCDU 2013 in Alexandria, VA, USA, the ISC decided to change the frequency of the conference from biennial to annual after ICCDU 2015 in Singapore. The global Covid 19 pandemic caused cancelation of ICCDU 2020 in Korea which was then postponed and held online in 2021. In June 2022 the physical conference was resumed for 19^th ICCDU in Princeton, NJ, USA. In June 2023 the 20^th ICCDU was held in Bari, Italy where we also celebrated the 30^th Anniversary of the first conference held in Bari.

   ICCDU 2024 will be the 21^st conference in the series and it is the third time that ICCDU will be held in China. Dalian is a beautiful coastal city in the northeast region of China with major national and international flights to and from Dalian International Airport. The ICCDU 2024 will be held in the Shangri-La hotel located in the city center of Dalian City with many hotels, shops and restaurants nearby within walking distance.

   ICCDU 2024 in Dalian, China will provide a great platform for scientific discussion and exchange of basic scientific information for promoting CO₂ capture and CO₂ utilization to mitigate global Climate Change and promote sustainable development. Very important progresses have been achieved, and regional and national initiatives have been recently launched in many countries around the Globe. It would also be useful to international community to see the research activities and type of research and development in CO₂ capture and utilization as well as industrial R&D and commercialization efforts in China in 2024. This is because the researchers in China have become very active in CO₂ utilization area, since the Chinese government launched 30-60 Dual Carbon Goal in 2020 [Carbon (CO₂) Peaking by 2030 and Carbon Neutrality by 2060], and remarkable progresses have been achieved in research, development and commercialization in the past several years. ICCDU 2024 will serve as a multi-disciplinary forum, offering a valuable opportunity that allows us to contribute to and develop a better understanding on the state of the art in CO₂ utilization research worldwide and to meet with friends and professional colleagues from man y parts of the world.

   We are looking forward to seeing your submissions to the 21^st ICCDU and to welcoming you in Dalian in June 2024!