An Interview With Martita Mestey
Focus on your core. It is essential to know what you are good at as a company and what your core capabilities are. There are a lot of very enticing and interesting opportunities to explore in renewable energy, but it is essential to know your strengths and in our case that means to focus on projects and opportunities where biology is at the core.
As the world grapples with climate change and environmental degradation, the shift towards renewable energy has never been more critical. Innovative companies are at the forefront of this transformation, developing sustainable energy solutions that reduce carbon footprints and promote a greener future. How are these companies driving the renewable energy revolution, and what impact are they making on the environment and the economy? As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Clemens Heikaus.
Clemens Heikaus is the Director of Venture Development & Support at Novonesis, leading efforts from North Carolina to drive innovation and strategic growth. With his global team, Clemens spearheads initiatives to develop and scale new ventures and partnerships, expanding the impact of Novonesis’ biosolutions across diverse industries. His work is particularly focused on advancing the energy transition towards carbon neutrality, with an emphasis on hard-to-abate sectors.
Since joining Novonesis in 2016, Clemens has held several senior leadership roles spanning marketing, business development, and strategy. Prior to Novonesis, he was the Business Development Manager for cellulosic biofuels at Clariant and a Senior Associate at McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients in the chemicals industry. Clemens holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Washington and has established himself as a versatile corporate leader across multiple functions and sectors.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I had a fairly typical upbringing in Germany, but I developed a deep fascination with biology and science from a young age. My curiosity really took off during school, especially since no one in my family had a strong background in science. This contrast motivated me to dive deeper into the world of scientific discovery. I was very focused on progressing through my education, moving through school, and earning my PhD.
Afterwards, my path shifted — still driven by curiosity — towards the commercial side of science. I entered consulting and business to amplify the impact of scientific discoveries through commercialization. Along the way, I honed two core values — curiosity and excellence — which remain central to my work and leadership approach today. These values continue to inspire my efforts to bridge the gap between science and its real-world applications.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
A key moment in my career came when the growing body of evidence around human-driven climate change gradually began to translate into science policy and regulatory frameworks. A recent standout moment was the introduction of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act in late 2021. This legislation marked a significant turning point, creating both financial incentives and regulatory pressure for industries to accelerate decarbonization and defossilization efforts. For the bioindustry, this was especially impactful, as biosolutions were recognized as a key technology for addressing global challenges. Seeing the role of biosolutions elevated to the forefront of climate action reaffirmed my belief in the power of science to drive real change.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
My team and I are currently working on an exciting initiative in the area of Future Fuels & Chemicals, where we are developing innovative biosolutions to help decarbonize the hard-to-abate sectors. One critical focus is aviation, where liquid fuels will continue to be essential for the foreseeable future. We are working on enabling the use of biofuels and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) made from sources like waste fats, oils, ethanol, and future intermediates.
It’s incredibly motivating to explore how biology can create more sustainable fuel options with a lower emissions impact. By advancing biofuels, we are not only helping reduce the carbon footprint of air travel but also ensuring that people can continue to connect, explore, and transport goods globally — all in a way that supports a more sustainable future for our planet.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. What innovative technologies are you implementing to enhance renewable energy production?
Novonesis is the world leader in enzymes and microorganisms enabling the production of biofuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel. Leveraging these established fuels and the corresponding key process intermediates such as low-carbon carbohydrates, our biosolutions enable the fermentation and production of future bio-based chemical intermediates for the fuels industry (e.g., Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Sustainable Marine Fuels) and for the chemical industries.
As a specific example, our enzymes transform complex biomass, such as starch or lignocellulosic material into sugars that are ideal for the downstream fermentation into chemical intermediates with the right fermentation organisms. We leverage our leadership in R&D, our commercial partnerships, and technology partnerships to further evolve how the biofuels and bio chemicals of the future will decarbonize and defossilize the hard-to-abate sectors.
How do you balance economic viability with environmental responsibility in your renewable energy projects?
Economic viability and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. The scale needed to succeed in commodity markets such as chemicals and fuels requires that economic viability is very quickly achieved. Accordingly, technoeconomic assessments are a key focus in our project development from day one. In several of the industries that we are working to decarbonize, policies and policymakers incentivize and mandate lowering emissions, for example in the transportation sector with fuel standards. In the US, several federal policies (such as the Inflation Reduction Act) and various state policies (such as low carbon fuel standards) create incentives that when paired with the decarbonization ambition (e.g., the SAF Grand Challenge to achieve 10% SAF usage in aviation by 2030) are critical mechanisms to drive innovation and technology maturation — as long as their longevity lines up with the required investment horizons. When done right and when policymakers and industries pull in the same direction, new sustainable technologies will emerge and mature to achieve economic viability towards commercial scale.
What are the biggest challenges your company faces in the renewable energy sector, and how are you addressing them?
One of the biggest challenges I see is the sheer scale and investment required to tackle the global emissions reduction challenge across industries, including the fuel and chemical industries. A lot of great technologies are ready to go or in development, but in many instances rely on the support from partnerships and public policy to cross the valley of economic scale-up. In the case of commodities, such as fuels and chemical intermediates, the combination of the public (through incentives and policies) and the larger private companies (through partnerships and investments) is essential to bring investment and acceleration into the early stage of new future technology scale-up efforts. Specifically, decarbonizing aviation fuels or maritime fuels is a challenge to tackle along the complex supply chains requiring multi-player and cross-regional partnerships enabled by bold initiative, policy certainty, and the right investment landscape.
How do your renewable energy solutions contribute to reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change?
In the past and today, the globe is overly reliant on fossil resources, including for the production of fuels and chemicals. Replacing these high-emission products with renewable products with lower carbon intensity such as biofuels or bio-based chemicals is a key step to decarbonize the transport sector and other industries. Novonesis’ biosolutions are a key enabler to convert renewable resources such as agricultural products (e.g., corn) and agricultural residues to biofuels and bio-based chemicals with lower emissions impact. Over the last few decades and in the next few decades, our biosolutions have and will continue to lower the current footprint of biofuels and bio-based chemicals, including through advancements in the agricultural value chain and the biofuels production processes, while also reducing the dependency on fossil processes, fuels, and chemicals.
Can you share a success story where your renewable energy initiative significantly impacted a community or industry?
If we want to make climate neutrality a reality, we need to use every tool we have available. That is why biofuels, including ethanol, are essential to meeting our net-zero ambitions. Ethanol plays a pivotal role in transforming both the energy and agricultural sectors, reducing carbon emissions equivalent to removing 12 million cars from the road each year, which positively impacts air quality and public health. In addition, the environmental footprint of ethanol production has improved dramatically over the years — since 1995, natural gas and electricity use at dry mill ethanol plants has dropped by nearly 40%, and water consumption has been cut in half, while producing 15% more ethanol per bushel of corn.
Ethanol is now more energy-efficient than ever, contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 44–52% compared to gasoline, and displacing harmful hydrocarbons and air pollutants. Its use not only delivers cleaner fuel but also drives energy independence by displacing over 600 million barrels of crude oil in 2023. Looking to the future, biorefineries will also decarbonize heavy-duty transport sectors, such as marine and aviation, and could potentially provide biochemicals and high-value protein feed that will further support the net-zero journey.
Beyond fuel, ethanol biorefineries strengthen local agriculture by converting one-third of every bushel of corn into nutritious distillers’ grains — an efficient animal feed used globally. This dual-purpose approach exemplifies how biofuels can power positive change across industries, helping both rural communities thrive and advancing the transition to renewable energy.
What are “5 Things You Need to Know to Create a Successful Renewable Energy Business” and why?
1. Focus on your core. It is essential to know what you are good at as a company and what your core capabilities are. There are a lot of very enticing and interesting opportunities to explore in renewable energy, but it is essential to know your strengths and in our case that means to focus on projects and opportunities where biology is at the core.
2. Seek partnerships. The challenges we are trying to solve are inherently large and tough. They require many angles and approaches to solve them. Going alone is unrealistic. We are seeking partnerships of all types and forms, including partnerships with technology developers, academics, policymakers, the public, and commercial partners, to bring future technology to the market.
3. Think big but accept small steps along the way. Focusing on the big vision and the most significant challenges is key to staying in line with achieving decarbonization targets driving the renewable energy transition. However, aiming for perfection will stand in the way of achieving progress. Specifically, it is important to accept realistic and smaller emissions reductions along the trajectory. Already today, Novonesis’ biosolutions improve efficiencies and emissions reductions over time in many well-established industries.
4. Commit with consistency. Over time, showing your consistent commitment to the renewable energy transition is critical to stay the course and showing to the external ecosystem, partners, and internal stakeholders what you and your company stands for. Over the last few decades, Novonesis has consistently shown itself to be committed by being present in the industry and leaning in to drive change, and deliver on its promises.
5. Enjoy the journey. When we are on the right track and have the right solutions to significantly impact society and the globe, it is important to find joy in the journey. Despite the daunting facts and messages about climate change, we can tap into additional energy from our people and stakeholders when we positively embrace the challenge and realize that we have the tools and pathways to change and impact the future energy transition actively.
What are the long-term goals for your company’s renewable energy projects?
As of the end of 2023 we sourced 84% of our electricity from renewable sources in our legacy Novozymes. Despite that already high number, we added operational footprint from the merger with Chr. Hansen. Novonesis still has the goal of using 100% renewable electricity by 2025 in accordance with our validated Science Based Targets. Moving forward, we will seek to implement our strong portfolio of projects to further invest in renewable electricity, to find cleaner alternatives for natural gas and coal-based steam and to save and recover energy.
How do you engage with and educate the public about the benefits of renewable energy?
We are all ambassadors and stakeholders, not just within our work but in every interaction we have. It is about recognizing the influence we hold in our conversations with family, friends, and beyond — whether we’re speaking publicly, at conferences, with partners, or on social media. Every dialogue is an opportunity to shape perspectives, so it is important to remain positive and open-minded. You never know who is listening, and you may unexpectedly reach and inspire audiences you did not anticipate.
How do you measure the environmental and social impact of your renewable energy efforts?
We measure our renewable energy efforts in terms of the amount of renewable energy used as a percentage of our total energy consumption. We also measure the greenhouse gas savings achieved with renewable energy adoption and the impact on our scope 1 and 2 ghg emissions. We are committed to a 75% reduction of emissions from our operations (scopes 1+2) by 2030 from a 2018 baseline. By 2025, we reduce absolute GHG emissions from operations by 65% from a 2018 baseline.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Being someone who is fascinated by the power of biology and what nature and biology all around us can do, it has to be a movement aimed at unleashing the full power of biology in as many places as possible. Specifically, I believe that we should be even more ambitious and diligent about exploring which of our global and societal issues can be solved through nature and biology — effectively double-clicking on what is truly possible. If you leverage today’s technologies and biotechnical advancements, a lot of old and new ideas are becoming possible and feasible. To me, the Era of Biosolutions is now.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
www.novonesis.com/biosolutions
This was very inspiring and informative. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this interview!
Clemens Heikaus Of Novonesis On How they Are Creating Renewable Energy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.