Abstract
The EU’s 2018 Bioeconomy Strategy Update and the European Green Deal recently confirmed that the bioeconomy is high on the political agenda in Europe. Here, we propose a conceptual analysis framework for quantifying and analyzing the development of the EU bioeconomy. The bioeconomy has several related concepts (e.g., bio-based economy, green economy, and circular economy) and there are clear synergies between these concepts, especially between the bioeconomy and circular economy concepts. Analyzing the driving factors provides important information for monitoring activities. We first derive the scope of the bioeconomy framework in terms of bioeconomy sectors and products to be involved, the needed geographical coverage and resolution, and time period. Furthermore, we outline a set of indicators linked to the objectives of the EU’s bioeconomy strategy. In our framework, measuring developments will, in particular, focus on the bio-based sectors within the bioeconomy as biomass and food production is already monitored. The selected indicators commit to the EU Bioeconomy Strategy objectives and conform with findings from previous studies and stakeholder consultation. Additionally, several new indicators have been suggested and they are related to measuring the impact of changes in supply, demand drivers, resource availability, and policies on sustainability goals.
Highlights
The recent EC Bioeconomy Strategy update [5] revalidates the objectives of the 2012 Bioeconomy Strategy, which are accompanied by three main action areas: bio-based sectors, rural development, and ecological boundaries
Our study focuses on the European Union (EU) and EU bioeconomy policies, but where appropriate references to methods and policies beyond the EU are made
This paper shows the bioeconomy receives wide support within the EU and beyond
Summary
In the last twenty years, policymakers of the European Union (EU) have placed a high priority on a sustainable and circular (bio)economy with the aim to reduce the use of petrochemicals, to mitigate climate change, to reduce the dependency on imports of natural resources, and to promote local economies. This focus on the bioeconomy is evident from a multitude of EU policy initiatives, spearheaded by the European Green. To measure the impacts of the bioeconomy on the three dimensions of sustainable development, a monitoring framework is considered crucial [8,9].
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