On the occasion of the Energy Security and Chemical Engineering Conference (ESChE), 2019, which was organized from 17 to 19 July 2019 in Penang, Malaysia, by the Centre of Excellence for Advanced Research in Fluid Flow (CARIFF), the University of Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia, in partnership with King Mongkut's University of Technology, North Bangkok, Thailand, the Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Vietnam, the University of Madras, India, and AMET University, India, it felt desirable to widely share key contributions on the theme of “Empowering Growth in Sustainable Energy” by publishing a thematic issue of the Comptes rendus Chimie (French Academy of Sciences, Paris). This dossier highlights achievements in emerging areas of basic and applied chemistry. It covers research topics such as advanced materials synthesis, nanocatalysis and characterization, wastewater treatment, renewable energy, as well as enhanced extraction and separation.

Finally, we would like to thank all the invited authors for their outstanding contributions to this issue and the reviewers for their most valuable comments. The guest editors would like to express their appreciation to Prof. Pierre Braunstein for support and guidance, as well as the editorial office staff of Comptes rendus Chimie for their untiring help that made possible the successful completion of this volume.