Bio-economy Visions and Strategies Kes McCormick International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Lund University, Sweden

1

Bio-economy – what? •

A bio-economy refers to an economy where the basic building blocks for materials, chemicals, and energy are derived from renewable biological resources.

• • • •

Biomass Biofuels Biotechnology Biorefineries

•

Connecting sectors and finding synergies!

Bio-economy – where? The bio-economy concept is attracting increasing political, business, public and scientific attention. This is exemplified by the OECD policy agenda in 2009, and the USA and EU strategies and visions in 2012.

Definitions and Visions • National Bio-economy Blueprint, 2012, White House Administration. • The USA definition appears to suggest that the current economy and bio-economy can exist together. • Sector in the overall economy.

• Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bio-economy for Europe, 2012, European Commission. • The EU implies that a shift can occur from the fossilbased economy to a biobased economy. • Transformation of economy.

Key Reflections • There at least five points about the bio-economy strategies and visions that demand critical attention: – Sustainability focus: Sustainability is not heavily emphasized and it is over shadowed by economic growth. – Measures of success: Few measures are presented in the documents, but the importance of measures is highlighted. – Scarcity of resources: This is only mentioned in a few of the documents. – Consumption patterns: It is not addressed in any depth except in some of the documents. – Stakeholder interaction: This is acknowledged in the documents as critical, but needs increased efforts.

Global Bio-economy Summit • The Global Bio-economy Summit in Berlin, Germany is a community building platform to discuss bio-economy policies from a global perspective. • Food security, sustainable development, economic growth and the conservation of scarce natural resources – the promises of bio-economy are manifold. • Global, national and regional scales.

Aviation Biofuels

Sustainable Bioenergy •

The assessment includes 21 chapters in some 750 pages with contributions from 137 researchers with 82 institutions in 24 countries.

•

It shows the conditions under which modern bioenergy can contribute to sustainable energy, climate and development objectives in light of other pressures associated with increasing food demands, preservation of forests, protected lands, and rising urbanisation.

Further information Staffas, Gustavsson & McCormick (2013) Strategies and Policies for the Bioeconomy and Bio-based Economy: An Analysis of Official National Approaches. Sustainability, 5: 2751-2769. McCormick & Kautto (2013) The Bioeconomy in Europe: An Overview. Sustainability, 5: 2589-2608.

Kes McCormick [email protected]