Avantium is developing CO₂ to formic acid and oxalic acid. The company sees oxalic acid primarily as a platform building block for monomers that can be used to make plastics.

The volume potential for plastics from CO₂ is very large: according to the nova Institute, it amounts to 315 million tonnes per year of CO₂-based plastics in 2050 in addition to 135 million tonnes of bio-based plastics and 750 million tonnes from recycling (incidentally, in a fossil-free scenario (2050), recycled plastics also have a bio- and CO₂-origin).

Avantium is developing these Volta technology in collaboration with 35 partners within various European research projects such as ELCOREL, PERFORM, RECODE, SunCoChem, and OCEAN.