Book excerpt: Porous carbon materials are at the heart of many applications, including renewable energy storage and generation, due to their superior physical properties and availability. The environmentally-friendly production of these materials is crucial for a sustainable future. This book focuses on the transformation of sustainable precursors into functional, porous carbonaceous materials via the two most significant approaches: Starbon® and Hydrothermal Carbonisation. Covering cutting-edge research and emerging areas, chapters cover applications of porous carbon materials in catalysis and separation science as well as in energy science. Moreover, the challenges of characterization of these materials and their commercialization are explained by worldwide experts. The content will be accessible and valuable to post-graduate students and senior researchers alike and it will serve as a significant reference for academics and industrialists working in the areas of materials science, catalysis and separation science.