Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy

This article investigates over the impact of forest management practices on the global carbon budget. The authors apply machine learning to model the expected increase of global forests' aboveground biomass in absence of human intervention. According to their findings, the global forest carbon would only increase by 15% in this way, meaning that forest-based climate mitigation should not be mistaken as a way to compensate for present carbon emissions levels.

The United Nations General Assembly designated 29 September as the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. The Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy has promoted the activities of the European Consumer Food Waste Forum during the past two years. The Forum’s work has resulted in the publication of a compendium of tools, best practices, and recommendations to help all key players prevent food waste. The document provides policymakers, researchers, businesses, and practitioners a set of recommendations to take action against consumer food waste. The compendium encourages cooperation with other stakeholders and promotes the establishment of sustainable food systems. The executive summary of the compendium is now available in all EU languages.

Starting from an accurate literature review, this report by the UN Environment Program investigates the potential climate benefits of the seaweed farming value chain, considering different use pathways. It assesses the feasibility of upscaling the global farmed seaweed production and it synthetises the findings in a situational analysis with a SWOT design. Finally, the report remarks the crucial role of coastal communities to maximise climate and environmental co-benefits, and the need to build global partnerships to advance science for the sustainable use of ocean resources.

In July 2023, the Commission has published two new guidelines to incentivise and reward sustainable forest practices. The “closer to nature” guidelines aim to strengthen forest multifunctionality and resilience to climate change, while fostering long-term economic and other societal benefits. The guidance on payment schemes for forest ecosystem services presents a variety of ways in which land managers, including foresters, may derive monetary benefits from the provision of the different ecosystem services. The two guidelines are key deliverables of the EU Forest Strategy.

The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in close consultation with officials of the 27 Member States, the European Commission, the Secretariat of the Council of the EU, and several academics and private sector representatives, presented Resilient EU2030, a strategic proposal to ensure the EU’s Open Strategic Autonomy and global leadership by 2030. The document explicitly mentions the role of the bioeconomy and bio-based materials in reducing the EU’s foreign dependencies while mitigating climate change.

The Irish government has recently published Ireland’s Forest Strategy towards 2030, including a Shared National Vision for the role of forests and trees in the country’s future. Based on a series of stakeholders' consultations, the new strategy aims to expand the national forest estate on both private and public land, to deliver benefits for environment, economy and society.

This roadmap by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for implementing the bioeconomy in Germany provides recommendations to help accelerate the market ramp-up of bio-based products and technologies, and to address social and ecological challenges. It shows that removing regulatory hurdles, getting technology transfer investments off the ground, and engaging stakeholders and consumers at an early stage can speed up the deployment of a circular bioeconomy, where biogenic raw materials are used in value creation cycles.