Bioeconomy: the missing link to connect the dots in the EU Green Deal |
26 Mar 20 |
Blog of the European Forest Institute (EFI)
A new blog from the European Forest Institute (EFI) discusses how the successful deployment of the EU Green Deal requires a fundamental rethink of the way we produce and consume. The bioeconomy, as a circular economy based on renewable biological resources could help to connect the dots in the Green Deal through three main features:
- The bioeconomy is fundamental for inclusive prosperity and fair social transition. It offers the possibility of a more inclusive distribution of income, jobs, infrastructures and prosperity in a wider part of the territory, especially in rural areas.
- Moving towards a carbon neutral EU does not only require moving towards fossil free energy. It also requires great efforts to move to fossil free materials, and to replace carbon intense products like plastics, concrete, steel and other materials like synthetic textiles. This shift is also an opportunity to modernize and make industries more circular: renewable biological resources, like forest resources, are, if managed sustainably, circular by nature and often easier to remanufacture.
- The bioeconomy offers a great opportunity to address the past failure of the economy to value nature and biodiversity. Biodiversity is a prerequisite for a long-term, sustainable and resilient bioeconomy. It is unrealistic to assume that actions to protect or enhance biodiversity should be funded only by public money. Forest owners and forest industry generating enough income from a profitable bioeconomy would be in a better position to reinvest in biodiversity and natural capital.
The bioeconomy, an economy powered by nature and emerging from nature has, if managed in a sustainable way, major potential to help deliver the ambitions set by the Green Deal.
Read the blog or access the full report from EFI on Leading the way to a European circular bioeconomy strategy.
