Overview   Bioeconomy

The range of benefits provided to humans by healthy ecosystems. Services include provisioning (such as food and wood), regulating (for example climate, flood and water regulation) and cultural services (for example, spiritual, recreation, educational).

This research, co-authored by the JRC, analyses the environmental trade-offs of 98 emerging bio-based materials, and estimates that their greenhouse gas life cycle emissions are on average 45% lower compared to their fossil counterparts. The large variation between individual products (from 19% for bioadhesives to 73% for biorefinery products) leads to conclude that the environmental sustainability of bio-based products should be evaluated on an individual product basis and that more radical product developments are required to reach climate-neutral targets.

Created by two Bioeconomy Youth Ambassadors in the framework of the Horizon Europe project BioBeo, this podcast offers a multifaceted representation of the European bioeconomy. It addresses a wide public, offering groundbreaking insights and revelations from the younger generation’s perspective through a series of interviews with bioeconomy experts and stakeholders.

This report by the OECD affirms that the sustainability of the bioeconomy may be increased by enlarging its boundaries to include alternative sources of bio-based carbon to complement biomass. Based on a series of workshops and 16 case studies, it reviews a number of hybrid technologies that can be deployed to ‘defossilise’ economic sectors and sets out policy options to bring these technologies to commercial scale.

On 22 November 2023, the Commission issued a proposal for a Regulation on a monitoring framework for resilient European forests. This framework will enable the collection and sharing of timely and comparable forest data obtained through a combination of Earth Observation technology and ground measurements. Building on existing national efforts, it will offer better data and knowledge for decision making and policy implementation, including more up-to-date information on natural disturbances and forest disasters across Member States.

Organised by the European Commission in cooperation with the Bioeconomy Youth Ambassadors, this festival will include more than 30 independent satellite events all over Europe between 11 and 17 March and a high-level event in Brussels on 13-14 March. The Youth Ambassadors are working on a "Bioeconomy Youth Vision", which will be officially handed over to the EC during the festival. By taking part, youth organisations have the chance to build a more comprehensive vision for their generation. Those interested should write to: eubioeconomyya@gmail.com

A new paper published in Nature, led by IIASA and co-authored by the JRC, makes further steps towards consistent accounting of land use CO₂ fluxes: it aims to ensure accurate assessment of progress and provides recommendations to ensure transparency and clarity in the accounting methods used at national level.

Eurostat released the annual review of data and statistics regarding the European agriculture and fisheries sectors, as well as the wider farm to fork chain, including related environmental issues. The document gathers key messages for the EU, it highlights the main players and their key specialisations, accompanying the analysis with effective visualisations.

The European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA) has published the annual economic report on the European fisheries and aquaculture industry, including data on production, consumption and trade available as of September 2023. The study assesses the performance of fishery and aquaculture products in the EU market compared with other food products.

This outlook report considers the main drivers expected to affect the future of EU agriculture until 2035, keeping an unchanged policy framework. It gives an overview of arable and specialised crops, milk, dairy and meat products, presenting market trends and their impact on farmers’ income. Finally, it analyses two scenario alternatives and theoretical pathways.

This report, from the series Food 2030, aims to guide future research and innovation policy reflections related to Horizon Europe, the Farm-to-Fork Strategy, the European Green Deal and beyond. It promotes a systemic approach, setting out 11 pathways for action where research and innovation can effectively deliver co-benefits in relation to nutrition, climate, circularity and communities, at multiple levels.

In this report by the JRC, the authors focus on the agroecology/food system interface and identify a wide variety of links between agroecological principles and sustainability dimensions of food systems. They point out the subjects and segments of food value chains which would benefit from being further explored, to inform future research relevant to the agroecological transition towards the sustainability of food systems.

This foresight study, carried out by the European Commission, focuses on the implications of digital technologies for transformative resilience of agri-food systems and rural areas. A wide group of farmers, rural actors, experts and policymakers took part in this collective intelligence-building exercise, to inform digitalisation policy and strategy at the EU and/or national levels, help stress test policy options, and engage key stakeholders at the policy implementation stage.

The Integrated Modelling Platform for Agro-economic Commodity and Policy Analysis (iMAP) can assess a broad range of policies in the agricultural and food sector, particularly those related to the European Green Deal. This report evaluates the modelling needs which can be covered by the current iMAP model suite, as well as the gaps in model requirements to be filled by further developments or by new models, tools and approaches.

On 8 December 2023, the JRC launched this observatory to monitor changes in the world’s forest cover and related drivers. Besides providing access to global forest maps and spatial forest and forestry-related information, it facilitates access to scientific information on supply chains, linking deforestation, forest degradation and changes in the world’s forest cover to EU demand for commodities and products. The observatory supports the EU’s new rules on deforestation-free products, addressing a wide range of public entities, consumers, and businesses.

A new JRC report summarises the results of a scientific game on bioeconomy which engaged several stakeholders across EU in foresight thinking. Collaboration, policy coherence, inclusion of rural areas, effective communication and citizens’ engagement emerged among the main areas to consider for shaping the future bioeconomy policy.