An overview of the environmental and energy problems is given with emphasis on the challenges and opportunities for the catalysis and reaction engineering community. Important research directions, entailing the hydrogen economy, process intensification, enhanced efficiency, transformation of underutilized energy resources (e.g., natural gas from remote and offshore locations), and biomass conversion with novel processing schemes, are outlined. Recommendations for future research needs are made. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.