An efficient mitigation of abundantly available CO2 is critical for sustainable environmental impact as well as for novel industrial applications. Using ethane, CO2 can be catalytically converted into a useful feedstock (synthesis gas) and a value-added monomer (ethylene) via the dry reforming pathway through the C-C bond scission and the oxidative dehydrogenation pathway through the C-H bond scission, respectively. Results from the current flow-reactor study show that the precious meta} bimetallic CoPt/CeO2 catalyst undergoes the reforming reaction to produce syngas with enhanced activity and stability compared to the parent monometallic catalysts. In order to replace Pt, the activities of non-precious CoMo/CeO2 and NiMo/CeO2 are investigated and the results indicate that NiMo/CeO2 is nearly as active as CoPt/CeO2 for the reforming pathway. Furthermore, FeNi/CeO2 is identified as a promising catalyst for the oxidative dehydrogenation to produce ethylene. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to further understand the different pathways of the CoPt/CeO2 and FeNi/CeO2 catalysts. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.