Bioeconomy and sustainability
The bioeconomy must promote sustainability – but what lies behind the concept ’sustainability’? It is logical and relevant to seek a greater degree of harmonisation of sustainability criteria with regard to protecting natural resources and minimising environmental impact.
Bioeconomy includes production of renewable biological resources and their use for food, feed, bio-based products and energy. It therefore encompasses many sectors – from agriculture, forestry and fishery to the chemical industry. The bioeconomy is at the forefront in the EU as a possible means of avoiding the negative consequences of basing production and consumption on fossil fuels and the petrochemical industry. It is therefore important that conversion to a bioeconomy actually improves resource management and reduces the environmental impact of our consumption and that we can evaluate the consequences.
Each sector has typically had its own rationale for evaluating the sustainability of its production. This is the case in EU legislation, national legislation and for a range of voluntary schemes initiated by companies or NGO’s. At the same time, the view of what constitutes important criteria varies greatly between countries in the EU. This was made clear after an investigation we were involved in for the strategic working group "Sustainable Bio-Resources for a Growing Bioeconomy" established by the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) and which resulted in the report ’Mapping Sustainability Criteria for the Bioeconomy’.
A very important aspect of sustainability is connected to production of the biomass that is the basis for various products. There are many examples:
- Rape for cooking oil or biodiesel
- Maize for ethanol, biogas or animal feed
- Fibre from wood mass for clothing.
It is therefore logical and relevant to seek a greater degree of harmonisation of the sustainability criteria in relation to protecting natural resources and minimizing environmental impact. At the same time, the growing need for biomass means that the agricultural systems that are needed to meet these needs will change and place further pressure on the Earth’s limited resources in the shape of converting savanna or forest to agricultural land and/or increased intensification of the land that is already cultivated. This actualises the need for relevant sustainability indicators related to biomass production.
AGRO has the range and competence that is needed to contribute to development of a rationale for sustainability in the bioeconomy and thereby support a bioeconomy development that is as appropriate as possible.
