Understanding Perceptions of the Bioeconomy in Austria—An Explorative Case Study

Tobias Stern,Ursula Ploll,Peter Schwarzbauer,Franziska Hesser,Lea Ranacher,Raphael Spies

doi:10.3390/su10114142

Abstract

The bioeconomy provides new approaches to deal with environmental challenges by substituting fossil fuels for sustainable, renewable resources and fuels. In Europe, this process and discourse has mainly been driven from a strategic top-down level. This leads to a lack of inclusion of societal actors, which can consequently lead to reduced acceptance and engagement. Henceforth, in this study, we focus on exploring how the bioeconomy is perceived, understood and evaluated by a wider audience. Through convenience sampling, 456 interviews conducted with students, employees, farmers and pensioners living in Austria provide the database for the study. Due to the novelty of the study’s objective and the consequentially explorative research approach, qualitative and quantitative social science research methods are applied. The results indicate that the bioeconomy concept is associated with various themes and visions. These associated topics also have negative or positive implications. Furthermore, a division between two visions of the bioeconomy, a technology- and industry-driven vision and a vision defined by regional environmentalism, can be observed. The feasibility of a future bioeconomy identifies as the most critical aspect. Sustainable consumption was mentioned as an important topic of the bioeconomy by the participants, a result that could be of particular interest when creating an inclusive bioeconomy, since it calls for active involvement of consumers. The study also shows that responding farmers tend to believe that the bioeconomy will lead to more inequity.

Highlights

Bioeconomy, as defined in the EU’s 2012 Bioeconomy Strategy is “( . . . ) the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy” [1]
The results indicate that the perception of a bioeconomy is situated between the two value dimensions: negative and positive scales, as well as individual and societal levels
The fact that the societal perception is normally not addressed in research about and policy implementations related to the bioeconomy has driven this study, as previous studies have pointed out the necessity to include society and societal actors

Summary

Introduction

Bioeconomy, as defined in the EU’s 2012 Bioeconomy Strategy is “( . . . ) the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy” [1]. ) the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy” [1] Terms such as bioeconomy or bio-based economy refer to political-economic concepts that postulate the substitution of fossil resources by bio-based ones, e.g., [2,3] to support economic and environmental targets [1]. The latter are required for economic cohesion in light of consumption-driven environmental pollution and resource depletion. The ongoing bioeconomy discourse paints an image, which center on technological capabilities of using bio-based resources as replacements for fossil-fuel-based ones, whereas the role of the public and consumers appears to have been of minor interest

Objectives

Results

Conclusion