{"id":117595,"date":"2022-10-27T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T05:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=117595"},"modified":"2022-10-25T09:58:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T07:58:24","slug":"eu-report-flags-crucial-role-of-bioeconomy-for-energy-and-food-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/eu-report-flags-crucial-role-of-bioeconomy-for-energy-and-food-security\/","title":{"rendered":"EU report flags \u2018crucial role\u2019 of bioeconomy for energy and food security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

The EU\u2019s bioeconomy strategy, first adopted in 2012, aimed at several objectives, like ensuring food security, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and contributing to the fight against climate change while supporting local jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Since 2014, the European Union has spent \u20ac3.7 billion in research and innovation to grow the bioeconomy, including the construction of several industrial-scale biorefineries that can convert biomass into biofuels or polymers that can replace petroleum in the production of plastics. [Eni \/ Flickr<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

These objectives \u201care now more relevant than ever, following the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need to speed up achieving independence on energy and to strengthen food security,\u201d the Commission said in a progress report<\/a> published before the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report, adopted on 9 June, took stock of progress made since the EU\u2019s bioeconomy strategy was adopted ten years ago. It says EU countries are broadly on track with adopting national bioeconomy plans, putting Europe \u201cin a strong position\u201d on the global market for bio-based chemicals and materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bio-based chemicals can turn algae into fuel, recycle plastic, convert waste into new furniture or clothing as well as transform industrial by-products into bio-based fertilisers, the Commission said<\/a> when it adopted its latest revision of the strategy, in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bio-based products from the forestry sector can also contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the use of one ton of wood instead of one ton of concrete in construction can lead to 2.1-ton carbon dioxide reduction, the EU executive pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHence, the bioeconomy plays a crucial role in achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal and help us to find solutions for the current food security and energy independence crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine,\u201d Brussels said in a statement released alongside its June report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest industry figures<\/a>, the bio-based industries has continued to grow over the years, making a total contribution of over \u20ac814 billion to the EU\u2019s economy in 2019 \u2013 or \u20ac34 billion more than the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2014, the European Union has spent \u20ac3.7 billion in research and innovation to grow the bioeconomy, including the construction of several industrial-scale biorefineries that can convert biomass into biofuels or polymers that can replace petroleum in the production of plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And although half of the industry\u2019s turnover is related to the food and beverage sector, a growing share is now also coming from innovative high-value added products such as biochemicals,  bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re moving from niche to normal,\u201d said John Bell, director at the European Commission\u2019s research and innovation department, which oversees the EU\u2019s bioeconomy strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cake \u2018getting smaller and smaller\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All is well then? Not really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As demand grows, farmers and foresters are coming under increased pressure due to competing uses of land for food, feed, biomass and other services linked to the bioeconomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those sometimes imply trade-offs, the Commission admits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are at a point in time where we have the impression that there is nothing else than biomass. It\u2019s huge \u2013 everywhere is biomass,\u201d said Wolfgang Burtscher, director-general at European Commission\u2019s agriculture department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, over the years it turns out that the cake is getting smaller and smaller. Because biomass is needed for biodiversity, biomass is needed for carbon capture, biomass is needed for feed and food, etc.,\u201d he told a bioeconomy conference on Thursday (6 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point, the Commission report found, this increased demand for biomass is confronted with \u201cecological boundaries\u201d where nature cannot deliver all these objectives at the same time without damaging the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are extremely exposed to this challenge of land use: with a hectare of land, you should produce food, you should produce feed, you should produce biomass, you should produce biodiversity, you should do carbon capture,\u201d Burtscher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, not all of this is exclusive necessarily, but still there are trade-offs,\u201d he warned, highlighting the \u201cecological borders\u201d linked to land use that need to be defined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Doing more with less\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, how to manage scarce land resources and define ecological boundaries feature high among the objectives of the EU\u2019s bioeconomy strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe\u2019s future bioeconomy strategy needs to \u201cincrease focus on how to better manage land biomass demands\u201d and make consumption patterns more sustainable, the Commission report says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe bioeconmy is about doing more with less,\u201d said Catia Bastioli, CEO at Italian company Novamont, a world leader in the production of bioplastics and biochemicals. \u201cThe paradigm is not economic growth \u2013 it is the decoupling of resources and development. This is the real challenge,\u201d she said at the Commission\u2019s bioeconomy conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to do that, she said the bioeconomy must be rooted in local value chains, which vary considerably within Europe, from the dry Mediterranean south to the boreal forests of Northern Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Burtscher, the fundamental question at the EU level is who decides on how to use these scarce natural resources. \u201cFor example, you have forest residues. What is the best use of this kind of biomass: do you use it for economic purposes or do you leave it in the forest for the purpose of biodiversity?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn agriculture, we see there is a lot of straw available. Can we use it for biofuels or do we use it for a more sophisticated product? These are the questions I am personally interested in,\u201d Burtscher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Bell, director at the Commission\u2019s research department, said the EU bioeconomy strategy is about solving those trade-offs and doing more with fewer resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow we\u2019re going to do it is the question,\u201d he admitted, however, saying the challenge for economists is to put a value on the ecosystem services provided by the bioeconomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor example, what value do you place and how do you price and reward a farmer who has hedgerows that are doing something in terms of ecological services. Or people who are capturing carbon in biomaterials products and services\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a Nobel Prize to be won here if somebody can turn natural capital into natural capitalism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, Bell said, decisions about those trade-offs were best taken locally. \u201cThis is why it\u2019s critical that people take ownership of the bioeconomy future they want for their territorial level\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission\u2019s progress report goes in the same direction, saying increased focus should be placed \u201con how to better manage land and biomass demands\u201d to address the three dimensions of sustainability \u2013 social, economic, and environmental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about making peace with nature,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The EU\u2019s bioeconomy strategy, first adopted in 2012, aimed at several objectives, like ensuring food security, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and contributing to the fight against climate change while supporting local jobs. These objectives \u201care now more relevant than ever, following the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need to speed up achieving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"With Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, the European Commission is rediscovering the virtues of bioeconomy for the EU\u2019s energy independence and food security. But it also acknowledges that trade-offs need to be addressed in order to avoid harming the environment","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[16380,5838,5627,15317],"supplier":[2317],"class_list":["post-117595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biobased","tag-bioeconomy","tag-energy","tag-fossilfuels","supplier-european-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117595"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=117595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}