Bioeconomy

The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement on the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) regulation, to increase the EU's target for net carbon removals by natural sinks to 310 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030. This agreement sets ambitious and fair targets for each Member State to reverse the decreasing trend of the EU's carbon sink.

This report considers the growing importance of seaweed production at the international level, and in particular their use to contribute to global food security. Several experts discussed the food safety concerns related to the use of macroalgae as food, identifying microbiological, chemical and physical hazards, and pointing to the lack the clear guidance and legislative documents on the production and utilisation of seaweed.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence to gather feedback on a new initiative to help accelerate the energy transition of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector. The initiative will put in place the structures to enhance cooperation between stakeholders and help remove the current barriers to the uptake of energy-efficient technologies, in order to make sure the sector can strengthen its resilience and improve its long-term social, economic and environmental sustainability.

The U.S. President signed an Executive Order to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovation for a sustainable, safe, and secure American bioeconomy. The initiative includes specific actions to grow domestic biomanufacturing production capacity, boost sustainable biomass production, expand market opportunities for bio-based products, coordinate efforts in key research and development areas, facilitate access to quality data, train a diverse skilled workforce and advance international cooperation.

The 2018 Bioeconomy Strategy and Action Plan called for a specific action to promote education, training and skills in the bieoconomy, supporting in particular networking opportunities between education and training providers and labour market actors. This study, commissioned by the European Commission, aims to address these actions and provides an assessment of the current and future needs for professional profiles and skills in the bioeconomy, compared against the current education and training provision in the bioeconomy at three levels: higher education, vocational education and training, and entrepreneurship training.

The European Commission has launched a survey to collect data on food loss and waste prevention initiatives along the food supply chain. The survey aims to gather information on ongoing and concluded interventions that contribute to food waste prevention and will allow the JRC to analyse their efficiency, effectiveness and impacts. This information will contribute to the development of ‘best practices’ in food waste prevention. The survey is open until 3 October 2022.

In this open access book, targeted at forest management professionals, decision makers, scientists, and forestry students, the authors explore the role of forest-based bioeconomy in addressing climate change. The book looks, in particular, to the role of climate-smart forestry as an approach for climate mitigation and adaptation of forests to climate change, and illustrates its application in the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany and Spain.

The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS), has just released FLUXES, a new publication containing the European Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. The first volume focuses on regional and year-over-year changes in carbon sinks in Europe. These changing sinks highlight the need to reduce emissions further in order to reach carbon neutrality targets.

Cascading use is the efficient utilisation of resources by using residues and recycled materials for material use to extend total biomass availability within a given system. From a technical perspective the cascading use of wood takes place when wood is processed into a product and this product is used at least once more either for material or energy purposes. - In a single stage cascade, wood is processed into a product and this product is used once more for energy purposes. - In a multi-stage cascade, wood is processed into a product and this product is used at least once more in material form before disposal or recovery for energy purposes.

Macroalgae are macroscopic eukaryotic pluricellular organisms composed of single differentiated cells able to obtain energy using chromophores.

(to be edited) The cover captures the morning mist at Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand. Like every other aspect of life on Earth, forests are facing increased challenges posed by climate change. A collection of papers in this week’s issue probes the vulnerabilities and potential resilience of forests in a warming world.

In this paper, scientists from the JRC and other research institutions assessed how the resilience of different forest ecosystems, i.e. their capacity to withstand and recover from natural and anthropogenic perturbations, has changed in recent decades. Their analysis, based on the integration of satellite-based vegetation indices with machine learning, shows a difference between tropical, temperate and arid forests on one hand, which underwent a significant decline in resilience, and boreal forests on other hand, for which they observed an average increasing trend in resilience.

(to be edited) Producers and authorities are key players developing the macroalgae sector in Europe. • Companies demand a specific macroalgae regulatory framework. • Authorities require assessment of the environmental risks of macroalgae production. • The license can be viewed as a boundary object between macroalgae companies and authorities.

This article assesses the global and regional impacts of an increased demand for engineered wood on land use and associated carbon emissions, based on an open-source land system model. The authors estimate the reductions of carbon emissions by 2100, considering a scenario where 90% of the new urban population would be housed in newly built urban, mid-rise buildings with wooden constructions. They also assess potential implications of the increased demand for engineered wood on forest plantations, harvest from unprotected natural forests and agricultural production.

A study, co-published by the United Nations (UNECE) and the FAO, looks at forest-based industries as an example of circular, bio-based economic models. It analyses the existing and possible limitations to circular approaches in the woodworking industry, the furniture industry, the paper and pulp industry as well as industry using cellulose-based fibres and cellulose-based plastics, and concludes that not all circular approaches are sustainable under all circumstances. According to the authors, while the transition to a circular, bio-based economy can be facilitated by legislators, the process needs to develop organically, based on the location of industries, proximity to available (waste) resources and consumer preferences.

In its 8th Environent Action Programme, the Commission presented a list of headline indicators for monitoring progress towards the EU's environment and climate goals to 2030, as well as the 2050 long-term vision to ‘live well, within planetary boundaries'. Resulting from intense consultations with stakeholders and Member States, the new Monitoring Framework under the 8th Environment Action Programme aims to foster transparency and inform Europeans about the impact of EU climate and environmental policy.

The Stockholm Environment Institute, the East African Science and Technology Commission and the BioInnovate Africa initiative have launched the first ‘State of Bioeconomy in Eastern Africa’ report with the latest scientific evidence on the status of the bieoconomy in the region. The report includes an overview of the availability of biological resources and highlights in particular the need to apply scientific research, knowledge and innovation for primary production, but also to provide and promote value-added bio-based products and services.