A new Bioeconomy Strategy for facilitating the deployment of sustainable biorefineries across Europe
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
It is the news of the moment in the biorefining
sector in Europe: the European Commission has just issued an update of its
bioeconomy strategy. Launched and adopted on 13 February 2012, Europe's
Bioeconomy Strategy addresses the production of renewable biological resources
and their conversion into vital products and bioenergy.
The 2018 update aims to accelerate the
deployment of a sustainable European bioeconomy so as to maximise its contribution
towards the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well
as the Paris Agreement. Main stakeholders are welcoming it with excitement. Dirk
Carrez, BIC Executive Director, said: “Although
progress has been made, further action and a stimulating policy framework is
needed to leverage private investments. A continuation of a public-private
partnership for the bioeconomy under Horizon Europe will be an additional
driver, allowing implementation of the updated Bioeconomy Strategy in a
sustainable way by mobilising public and private stakeholders, de-risking
investments from innovative bioeconomy projects and facilitating deployment of
new sustainable biorefineries”.
Figure 1. A new Bioeconomy Strategy for a
sustainable Europe (extracted from the factsheet of the new Bioeconomy Strategy)
The new Bioeconomy Strategy and related
resources (Factsheet / Booklet / Infographic / Video) can be found in this link:
https://ec.europa.eu/research/bioeconomy/index.cfm?pg=policy&lib=strategy.
I would only like to highlight two points:
- The update has three key objectives: (1) Scaling
up and strengthening the biobased sectors; (2) Rapidly deploying bioeconomies
across Europe; (3) Understanding the ecological limitations of the bioeconomy.
- The EU proposes €10 billion for research and
innovation funding on food and natural resources, including the bioeconomy,
under Horizon Europe (2021-2027). This is almost 3 times greater that the
quantity assigned under Horizon 2020 (€3.85 billion from 2014 to 2020).