Wondering what is the bioeconomy and why it keeps appearing in policy and business news? It is the part of the economy that makes food, materials, chemicals and energy from renewable biological resources, rather than fossil ones.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Bioeconomy, FAO wording | Production, transformation, use and conservation of biological resources |
| Term used in academic circles | Since the 1970s |
| OECD report that put the bioeconomy on its agenda | 2009 |
| European Commission communication defining it | 2012 |
| Estimated global population | Around 9 billion in 2050 |
| FAO forest definition, minimum land area | More than 0.5 hectares |
These figures and definitions come from an FAO glossary page last updated on August 24, 2021, and a 2017 BSI Economics note. Figures can change, so check the source before you rely on them.
How do major bodies define the bioeconomy?
The FAO glossary defines the bioeconomy as the production, transformation, use and conservation of biological resources, or bioresources. It usually includes agriculture, fisheries, agro-food industries and the forestry and wood industry, plus other processing of bio-based materials.
The Global Bioeconomy Summit, held in Berlin, Germany, gave a fuller wording in its 2020 communiqué, which the same FAO page quotes. It adds the regeneration of biological resources and related knowledge, science, technology and innovation, all aimed at sustainable solutions across every economic sector.
Other institutions word it differently, as the 2017 BSI Economics note shows. The OECD described the bioeconomy as a set of economic activities related to innovation, development, production, and use of biological products and processes. The European Commission, in a 2012 communication, described an economic system built on renewable biological resources and waste as inputs for food and feed, industrial production and energy.
Despite the different wording, the same note finds common ground. Definitions share the importance of biotechnologies as a tool and a systemic approach at the intersection of energy, food and chemical systems.
The sectors and products inside the bioeconomy
The bioeconomy is defined by its inputs rather than by one industry, so it cuts across many sectors. The FAO glossary points to these areas:
- Agriculture and fisheries
- Agro-food industries
- The forestry and wood industry
- Construction and housing
- Textiles
- Chemicals, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics
- Energy
The BSI Economics note sums up the logic: the bioeconomy relies on renewable biological resources as raw materials for energy, chemicals, materials and food. The same note names the problems it aims to address as the depletion of fossil fuels, global warming and population growth.
Each product family has its own guide on this site:
- The inputs behind everything are covered in the guide to types of biomass feedstock.
- Start with what are biomaterials for the basics of materials made from biological resources.
- Fuels from biological resources are sorted in the overview of types of biofuels.
- A list of bio-based chemicals examples shows where chemistry meets biology.
- The trade-offs of one well-known product family are weighed in bioplastics pros and cons.
Where did the idea of the bioeconomy come from?
The BSI Economics note states plainly that the bioeconomy is not a new concept. It has been around in academic circles since the 1970s. In economics, the term entered theoretical models through Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen’s 1971 book on the entropy law and the economic process, and through René Passet’s 1979 book L’économique et le vivant.
Their approach treats ecological issues as encompassing economic activity, rather than as something that surrounds it. Neoclassical economists, by contrast, consider the environment an external effect generated by the economic system that needs to be internalized.
According to Georgescu-Roegen, the bioeconomy relies on all economic actors:
- Businesses apply efficient, economical and clean technologies in production and processing.
- Public policy guides spending and regulates industrial activity.
- Consumers change their behavior toward greater sobriety and intergenerational equity.
How policy took up the bioeconomy
For decades the concept lived mainly in academia. The BSI note says it spread only gradually into European political debates and institutional discourse over the last ten years before its 2017 publication.
The driving question, in the note’s words, was how to reduce dependence on fossil fuels while ensuring food and basic needs for a global population estimated at around 9 billion in 2050. The note adds that expectations include renewable energy with low greenhouse gas emissions and a revival of the agricultural sector and rural economies.
According to the note, the OECD was the first institution to put the bioeconomy on its internal agenda, following a 2009 report. That report linked the bioeconomy closely to biotechnologies, which it described as disruptive innovations.
European institutions and member states then followed. The note names Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as having national policies, and it says France’s Energy Transition Act of August 17, 2015 plays a key role in its strategy. For the EU’s wider policy track, the guide to the european bioeconomy strategy goes deeper.
Sustainability, circularity and cascading use
Using more biology is not automatically sustainable, so definitions add a test. The FAO glossary quotes the Brundtland Commission’s idea of sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. A sustainable bioeconomy applies that test to the production, transformation, use and conservation of bioresources.
The same glossary places a sustainable bioeconomy inside an inclusive green economy, which it describes (citing UNEP) as improving human well-being and building social equity while reducing environmental risks and scarcities.
The glossary also defines the circular economy as systems that retain the added value in products for as long as possible and transform waste into resource, citing the International Resource Panel in 2018. The two ideas overlap but are not identical, and the comparison of bio-based economy vs circular economy sets out the differences.
Wood offers a concrete example of cascading use: using residues and recycled materials for material use to extend total biomass availability within a given system. The glossary credits a 2016 study on the optimised cascading use of wood for this definition, and says market-level cascading can be quantified through wood flow analysis.
A wood biorefinery, based on the International Energy Agency’s Task 42 biorefining report, is a place where wood is chemically fractioned and sustainably processed into intermediate materials. Those are then processed into diverse material and energy products, and the walkthrough of how does a biorefinery work explains the general idea.
The glossary also fixes some terms for forests. The FAO’s 2020 forest definition requires land spanning more than 0.5 hectares, with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach those thresholds in place. A wood bioeconomy is broader, since it includes wood that does not come from forests and the recycling of wood products.
For readers focused on factories rather than forests, sustainable manufacturing looks at how production itself can be made less harmful.
Challenges and open questions
The BSI Economics note lists what policymakers hope biomass can deliver:
- Food for billions of people by 2050
- Renewable energy with low greenhouse gas emissions
- Less dependence on fossil fuels
- A revitalized agricultural sector and rural economies
The same note cautions that deploying an entirely bio-based economy faces numerous technological, economic, regulatory and social obstacles. It also observes that controversial theories and definitions of the bioeconomy are emerging, so two sources may use the word to mean different things.
Whether biological resources actually cut emissions depends on how they are grown, harvested and processed. The relationship is explored in the guide to bioeconomy and climate change.
Frequently asked questions
What is the bioeconomy in simple terms?
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It is the production, transformation, use and conservation of biological resources, as the FAO glossary puts it. That covers farming, fisheries, forestry and the many products made from their outputs, from textiles to energy.
Is the bioeconomy a new idea?
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No. According to the 2017 BSI Economics note, the concept has been used in academic circles since the 1970s. Policy attention is more recent.
Does the bioeconomy only mean biofuels?
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No. The FAO glossary lists agriculture, fisheries, agro-food, forestry and wood, construction, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and energy. Energy is only one of those areas.
Is a bioeconomy automatically sustainable?
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No. Definitions such as the FAO glossary’s add a sustainability test: using bioresources without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The BSI note also lists technological, economic, regulatory and social obstacles to a fully bio-based economy.
