Converting CO2 into carbohydrates holds the promise of mitigating climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions and reducing water and food shortages in developing countries, an expert said at the ongoing Zhongguancun Forum on Saturday. Biological science is rapidly developing towards predictability, reproducibility and controllability, providing an unprecedented knowledge environment for designing artificial biological systems and breaking through the limitations imposed by the forms and efficiency of natural biological energy utilization, said Ma Yanhe, director of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He delivered a speech on CO2 conversion and utilization by industrial biotechnology at the 2nd Forum on Carbon Peak and Neutrality, a major event organized by the Zhongguancun Forum. In 2021, a research team from TIB designed an artificial starch synthesis pathway consisting of only 11 basic reactions, achieving the first complete synthesis from CO2 to starch molecules in the laboratory. Ma said that the new method of producing materials synthesizing a large number of agricultural and petrochemical products with CO2 as a raw material will bring profound changes in social and economic forms. (Xinhua)

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