Bioeconomy

The outbreak of the coronavirus is having an unparalleled effect on our society and economy. Farmers and every actor of the EU food supply chain are working hard to keep feeding Europe, despite the difficulties they face. The European Commission will continue to support farmers and food producers, collaborate with EU member states, and take whatever measures are necessary to ensure the health and well-being of the people of Europe.

The additional funding is part of the Recovery Package and follows earlier EU support measures to alleviate the immediate socio-economic impact on the sector. The Commission will work closely with EU countries to ensure that the additional funding contributes to a swift recovery, in line with the European Green Deal and the ambitions of the common fisheries policy.

Going in circles means leading the way!

Scientists have created the first ever large-scale map of microscopic algae as they bloomed across the surface of snow along the Antarctic Peninsula coast. Results indicate that this ‘green snow’ is likely to spread as global temperatures increase.

This call aims to attract proposals focused on biotechnology as a key enabling technology (KET) in the context of the bio-based economy. It tackles 21st century societal challenges such as decarbonisation of the economy and reduction of the reliance on fossil feedstocks. Therefore, funding provided by national and regional programmes will be combined to launch this joint call for multilateral research projects addressing “Biotechnology for a sustainable bioeconomy”.

The European Commission has put forward its proposal for a major recovery plan. To ensure the recovery is sustainable, even, inclusive and fair for all Member States, the European Commission is proposing to create a new recovery instrument, Next Generation EU, embedded within a powerful, modern and revamped long-term EU budget. The Commission has also unveiled its adjusted Work Programme for 2020, which will prioritise the actions needed to propel Europe's recovery and resilience.

EU regional innovation collaboration support-tools will play a key role during the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework period to achieve EU economic recovery. To this regard, European regions, clusters, RTOs and other innovation stakeholders jointly call on the European institutions to use the Interregional Innovation Investment instrument to unleash the innovation potential available in Europe’s regions.

A faster, more efficient way of recycling plant-based “bioplastics” has been developed by a team of scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Bath.

The SIRA2030 sets out the main technological and innovation challenges to establish a sustainable and competitive bio-based industry in Europe that will contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal and Horizon Europe. The resulting actions will increase a circular use of European biomass, residues and waste and focus on regional approaches. As such, they will also contribute to a healthy ecosystem by increasing soil health and enhancing biodiversity and help realise the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Detailing the elements of the project, presenting the objectives and outputs.

Today, the European Commission adopted a comprehensive new Biodiversity Strategy to bring nature back into our lives and a Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system. The two strategies are mutually reinforcing, bringing together nature, farmers, business and consumers for jointly working towards a competitively sustainable future.

Experts are manufacturing prototypes by coating or printing nanocellulose on textiles, paper or plastic to enhance the performance of these products in various applications.

To find out more about what Europe is doing to help the continent's fishing industry cope with the coronavirus pandemic, Ocean's Denis Loctier spoke to Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries.

BIOEASTsUP Project is organising online webinar series “Advancing Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy in Central and Eastern European Countries”, where an overview of the BIOEAST initiative and its supporting project BIOEASTsUP will be presented.

The tender study, financed by the European Commission (DG R&D), will investigate the perspectives for chemical and material-based biorefineries. Objectives are the development of a homogeneous classification system for integrated biorefineries and to show the wide spectrum of bio-based products which can be produced in these facilities.

EIT Climate-KIC’s ‘Extraordinary Post COVID-19 Regeneration Call 2020’ will select projects and programmes with the potential to restructure and regenerate our economies in the wake of the pandemic and in anticipation of future climate, ecological and health crises. Proposed activities must deliver clear outputs by the end of 2020.

The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) has signed grant agreements with the projects selected for funding under the 2019 Call for proposals. The 22 new projects will receive financial support worth €106 million and bring the total of BBI JU grants to 123. 218 beneficiaries from 27 EU Member States and associated countries will take part in the projects.

The latest of the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment, FRA 2020, examines the status of, and trends in, more than 60 forest-related variables in 236 countries and territories in the period 1990–2020.

The conference will focus on a number of key issues: The wide range of fine chemicals in body care, cosmetics, food ingredients and pharmaceuticals, biorefineries and especially lignin utilisation, which is facing technological breakthroughs, and finally the opportunities and risks arising worldwide from new legal frameworks to limit the negative consequences of conventional plastics. How can this become an opportunity for bio-based polymers?

Can we soon use asphalt on a large scale on a vegetable basis? The construction of test lanes with “bioasphalt” in the Netherlands should provide the necessary knowledge to start applying this technology on a large scale. The fossil constituent of asphalt, bitumen, is replaced by lignin, an important constituent of plants and trees. As a result, road construction is becoming greener, biogenic carbon can be stored in roads for a long time and we are becoming a little less dependent on petroleum again.