A path transition towards a bioeconomy–the crucial role of sustainability

“The global economy has to feed an increasing world population with a simultaneous rise of the living standard, but is restricted by planetary boundaries [1].”

“Investors are not able to appropriate the whole benefits of investments, which leads to an underinvestment in innovation and learning from a social perspective [140].”

“However, fossil resource-based technologies can benefit from past learning effects, increasing returns and network externalities; these interact with the specialised nature of investments to create a technological path dependency [141].”

“[50,83]), the environmental benefits of bio-based products are even more critical attributes of trust in need of explanations [84,85].”

“Without question, the path transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy is a complex process that has to overcome the perpetuated lock-in into fossil resource-based production and consumption structures (“carbon lock-in”, see Reference [130]).”

“Furthermore, sufficiency policy is needed to complement the efficiency policy measures to avoid rebound effects [91,158,159].”

“Moreover, investments in innovation and the deployment of innovative technologies give rise to knowledge and learning spillovers, which constitute a positive externality [138,139].”

“Selected examples, among others, for innovative or reinvented products and applications are cross-laminated timber products in wooden multi story buildings [107,108], shaped wood in cars [109,110], admixture in concrete [111,112], biocomposites such as wood-plastic composites (WPC) or natural fibre reinforced composit…”

“Moreover, investments in innovation and the deployment of innovative technologies give rise to knowledge and learning spillovers, which constitute a positive externality [138,139].”

“In the future, lignin could also be employed to produce for example fine chemicals, bioplastics [106] or glues [116,117].”

“[44] distinguish between a (i) bio-technology vision (focus on research, application and commercialisation of bio-technology), (ii) bio-resource vision (focus on processing and upgrading of biological raw materials and establishment of new value chains) and (iii) bio-ecology vision (focus on sustainability and ecologi…”

“Selected examples, among others, for innovative or reinvented products and applications are cross-laminated timber products in wooden multi story buildings [107,108], shaped wood in cars [109,110], admixture in concrete [111,112], biocomposites such as wood-plastic composites (WPC) or natural fibre reinforced composit…”

“Policies should create opportunities for the society to become engaged [47,68,151] as region-specific bottom-up approaches and social innovation matter in developing a sustainable bioeconomy [79,132].”

“Selected examples, among others, for innovative or reinvented products and applications are cross-laminated timber products in wooden multi story buildings [107,108], shaped wood in cars [109,110], admixture in concrete [111,112], biocomposites such as wood-plastic composites (WPC) or natural fibre reinforced composit…”

“Reference [21]), consumer acceptance of bio-based products struggles with several challenges (for an overview see Reference [90]), but after all, sustainability is the key for purchasing decisions in favour of the bioeconomy.”

“However, conflicts within this triangle of aims and also with further societal aims soon became obvious, and sparked a broad societal and scientific debate about the sustainability risks involved (see References [27–29] for overviews).”

“Examples are GHG emissions, land degradation through mining, air pollution or waste generation which give rise to negative externalities, which, in the absence of policy measures, are insufficiently reflected in market prices [135,136].”

“As the SDG’s cover nature, economy and society as the three pillars of sustainability, the question remains, how and in what way the bioeconomy can support synergies of diverse sustainability goals from different pillars and thus, help to contribute to as many SDGs as possible.”

“7), own translation) for the “neoliberalization of nature” [41], which secures a “regime of accumulation against major sociopolitical and ecological challenges” [42].”

“Comparing a set of national and international bioeconomy strategies (including those by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture [55], the OECD [6] and the EU [2]), De Besi and McCormick find a common focus on “fostering research and innovation, primarily in the field of biotechnology; promoting collaborati…”

“However, the bioeconomy can still be seen as a “chameleon of notions” [50] that adapts repeatedly to changing requirements [52]; the meaning of the bioeconomy “still seems in a flux” [56], maybe as a consequence of its role as a “master narrative” attracting rival visions [57].”

“However, the bioeconomy can still be seen as a “chameleon of notions” [50] that adapts repeatedly to changing requirements [52]; the meaning of the bioeconomy “still seems in a flux” [56], maybe as a consequence of its role as a “master narrative” attracting rival visions [57].”

“Picking up that impulse, in combination with the parallel development of a Strategy on Biotechnology in 2002, this was the foundation for the “Knowledge-based Bioeconomy” (KBBE) in 2005 [53].”

“The main constraints for the further development of the bioeconomy sector are impending scarcities of sustainably grown feedstocks for bio-based products due to the insufficient availability and inefficient use of biomass and arable land [31,33].”

“For a holistic understanding and to avoid negligence of potentials for the bioeconomy, all objectives, interests and challenges of the different perspectives on the bioeconomy should be considered [65].”

“As the SDG’s cover nature, economy and society as the three pillars of sustainability, the question remains, how and in what way the bioeconomy can support synergies of diverse sustainability goals from different pillars and thus, help to contribute to as many SDGs as possible.”

“Selected examples, among others, for innovative or reinvented products and applications are cross-laminated timber products in wooden multi story buildings [107,108], shaped wood in cars [109,110], admixture in concrete [111,112], biocomposites such as wood-plastic composites (WPC) or natural fibre reinforced composit…”

“Instead, there is a low public awareness of the bioeconomy and a need for inclusion of society in discussing the future pathways of the bioeconomy [151,154].”

“The governance of the bioeconomy as a “learning system” should gradually, but reliably set impulses for a sustainable transition path [145].”

“Nevertheless, a sustainable long-term oriented bioeconomy policy requires more: the challenge is to integrate bio-based substitutes into existing markets, where equivalent fossil-based products are well established [143].”

“However, conflicts within this triangle of aims and also with further societal aims soon became obvious, and sparked a broad societal and scientific debate about the sustainability risks involved (see References [27–29] for overviews).”

“Policies should create opportunities for the society to become engaged [47,68,151] as region-specific bottom-up approaches and social innovation matter in developing a sustainable bioeconomy [79,132].”

“Some authors state promising potentials for the bioeconomy to make a significant contribution to the SDG’s [5,66] and consider the bioeconomy as a valid and reliable way to the transition to equitable, sustainable, post fossil-carbon societies [67,68].”

“, social issues would arise as, for example, in terms of land and respective land rights [46] or in the production process [63].”

“In the future, lignin could also be employed to produce for example fine chemicals, bioplastics [106] or glues [116,117].”

“This does not only mean political adjustments in single application fields, such as bio-based chemicals or plastics or textiles, but a coherent approach based on sustainability principles that ensures economic returns, avoid environmental problems and meet socioeconomic expectations [156].”

“However, bioeconomy policies in Germany, the EU and the OECD-countries still focus on the time-honoured understanding of the “knowledge-based bioeconomy” which is predominantly characterized by the substitution of resource inputs and high tech innovations, mainly in the form of biotechnology (e.g., References [2,15]).”

“, References [127,128]), also economic “co-benefits” of the bioeconomy, such as employment, rural value creation, economic growth or impulses for technological progress could be forfeited [129].”

“Despite the fact that there are other levels of governance and other initiatives that may shape the bioeconomy, Fritsche and Iriarte [46] suggest to acknowledge and extend the binding sustainability requirements specifically targeted to biomass for bioenergy in developing a sustainable bioeconomy in order to avoid rei…”

“However, conflicts within this triangle of aims and also with further societal aims soon became obvious, and sparked a broad societal and scientific debate about the sustainability risks involved (see References [27–29] for overviews).”

“However, as the bioeconomy is in the ungrateful role as a straggler of bioenergy, it has got the problem that sustainability, in particular a sustainable renewable resource base, is doubted in public perception [17] so that it is hard to gain credibility and acceptance for a sustainability improvement by means of the…”

“In a nutshell, as features of bio-based products are similar to fossil-based ones [87], but are offered for higher prices [88,89] and may cause sustainability concerns (cf.”

“Birch [64] differentiates between four definitions of the bioeconomy: (i) Product definition (bio-based products), (ii) substitution definition (substitution of fossil resources for bio-based ones), (iii) renewable-sustainable definition (critical debate whether renewable = sustainable) and (iv) societal transition de…”

“Instead, there is a low public awareness of the bioeconomy and a need for inclusion of society in discussing the future pathways of the bioeconomy [151,154].”

“In a nutshell, as features of bio-based products are similar to fossil-based ones [87], but are offered for higher prices [88,89] and may cause sustainability concerns (cf.”

“In this light, incentives for the formation and development of industrial symbiosis in the bioeconomy network can support the integration of different processes and material streams and thus, save costs and mitigate environmental impacts of the production system [157].”

“For a credible and reliable transition policy, societal acceptance and a broad coalition of interests which support associated policy changes is of crucial importance [71,79,144].”

“, German bioeconomy policy and research strategies and those of the German federal states) point to several problems, such as (i) an insufficient consideration of conflicts between environmental and economic policy aims; (ii) open questions on how to effectively safeguard environmental boundaries and global food secur…”

“For a credible and reliable transition policy, societal acceptance and a broad coalition of interests which support associated policy changes is of crucial importance [71,79,144].”

“Moreover, a sustainable development of the bioeconomy requires innovative technical and, above all, political solutions for stimulating a change of consumption patterns and the use of waste and recycling material, taking into account possible rebound effects [91,92].”

“Even if we leave the “sustainability or collapse” narrative [80] behind, environmental changes resulting from human activities will, sooner or later, require transformation and/or reorganisation of economic habits and lifestyles (cf.”

“Despite several points of critique [49] and for reasons of straightforwardness and tangibility, we focus on the three pillar model in this paper and do not take the numerous suggested approaches and models for sustainability and sustainable development into further consideration (for an overview in the bioeconomy cont…”

“Wood-based products act as temporary carbon sinks due to the assimilation and storage of carbon in wood and therefore often show better GHG-balances than fossil resource substitutes [55,98].”

“However, conflicts within this triangle of aims and also with further societal aims soon became obvious, and sparked a broad societal and scientific debate about the sustainability risks involved (see References [27–29] for overviews).”

“It shows a growing awareness of current environmental problems and the willingness to counteract, but several existing barriers need to be removed to reach more people to ensure further progress [101,155].”

“The main constraints for the further development of the bioeconomy sector are impending scarcities of sustainably grown feedstocks for bio-based products due to the insufficient availability and inefficient use of biomass and arable land [31,33].”

“Despite high variations between different regions in the EU, bio-based sectors contribute to economic development especially in regions affected by structural changes accelerated by the financial crisis [152].”

“Markets alone will not suffice to fulfil the enabling and limiting functions of bioeconomy governance because of a number of interacting market failures regarding extraction, processing and use of fossil resources [71,133,134].”

“Selected examples, among others, for innovative or reinvented products and applications are cross-laminated timber products in wooden multi story buildings [107,108], shaped wood in cars [109,110], admixture in concrete [111,112], biocomposites such as wood-plastic composites (WPC) or natural fibre reinforced composit…”

“Reference [102]), the use of wood in multi-storey residential buildings is also increasing.”

“, German bioeconomy policy and research strategies and those of the German federal states) point to several problems, such as (i) an insufficient consideration of conflicts between environmental and economic policy aims; (ii) open questions on how to effectively safeguard environmental boundaries and global food secur…”

“The discourse about a sustainable bioeconomy needs to be linked with expanding the circular flow economy, to reduce pressures on ecosystems that provide primary biomass resources [93].”

“[50,83]), the environmental benefits of bio-based products are even more critical attributes of trust in need of explanations [84,85].”

“[160,161]) and to create credibility and acceptance for the bioeconomy.”

“Policies should create opportunities for the society to become engaged [47,68,151] as region-specific bottom-up approaches and social innovation matter in developing a sustainable bioeconomy [79,132].”

“Markets alone will not suffice to fulfil the enabling and limiting functions of bioeconomy governance because of a number of interacting market failures regarding extraction, processing and use of fossil resources [71,133,134].”

“, Reference [78]): The “sustainability joker” biotechnology as a high-tech sector may raise huge sustainability risks, especially when upscaling biotechnological processes to an industrial scale as these may absorb any natural resources indifferentiatedly, just like a vacuum cleaner (cf.”

“A semi-crystalline polymer, starch is composed α glycosidic groups: points”

“Similarly, the bioeconomy enables the transition from fossil-based to biomass-based industrial inputs and emphasizes the sustainable use of renewable resources for economic, environmental, and social benefits (Pfau et al., 2014; D’Amato et al., 2018; Gawel et al., 2019).”

“(Germans especially) as a policy matter, it has been, by default, applied to bio-based materials, especially wood from the forestry sector [203, 204, 318, 332], with the”

“Three approaches must be promoted to move the circular bioeconomy toward sustainability: sustainability of the bioresource base, sustainability of processes and products, and sustainability of circular processes of material flows [84].”

“Sustainable development is an integral part of the bioeconomy [15].”

“My argument is not for the EU bioeconomy and EU societies to adopt animism, but for human–nature narrowly framed relations to be re-examined (Gebara 2021).”

“Fully substituting bio-based and renewable materials and energy for the enormous and still-increasing volumes of fossil resources currently used while remaining on a growth trajectory is assessed as unrealistic by many experts (Hausknost et al. 2017; Grunwald 2020; Gawel et al. 2019).”

“As a result, it is clear that the bioeconomy is not necessarily sustainable and the economic aspects are usually given more attention than sustainability-related issues and biodiversity [55,69,70].”

“Biotechnology has focused on plant polysaccharides to obtain innovative products to apply them following the bioeconomy principles, for which a set of practices are based on the intelligent use of natural resources, to satisfy current needs while guaranteeing resources for future generations [14].”

“…the ‘right’ governance structures and policy instruments to bring about technological innovation, economic efficiency, societal participation and ecological sustainability (see, e.g. Devaney et al., 2017; Gawel et al., 2019; Maes & van Passel, 2019; Mustalahti, 2018; Philp, 2015; Schütte, 2018).”

“A central issue is the trade-offs necessary to mitigate conflict that might arise between relevant policies [17].”

“However, to integrate both positions, governments may need to play a stronger role in the bioeconomy transition [38,39] to fulfill a two-fold function: on the one hand, an enabling function to level the field for biobased products and to compensate for competitive disadvantages in comparison to fossil-based products;…”

“, 2017), agri-food systems (El Bilali, 2019), and the bioeconomy (Gawel et al., 2019).”

“According to scientific sources [20-22], the bioeconomy relies heavily on knowledge.”

“Certification is mandatory within the RED and can be an important safeguard mechanism to ensure a certain level of sustainability and to verify compliance with sustainability criteria [63].”

““Furthermore, the ascent in investigations into bio-mimetic materials and architecture heralds a transition towards practices that are both ecologically consid-erate and functionally superior (Gawel et al. 2019).”

“The modern conceptualisation of the bioeconomy is still emerging with an uncertain trajectory towards new biotechnological capabilities, resource demands, and public acceptance [9].”

“However, the rapidly increasing demand combined with over-harvesting due to calamity situations in Europe threatens sustainability and the objectives of the Green Deal for Europe [17] and also leads to excessive carbon release into the atmosphere, as reported in [18].”

“Bioenergy policy, both as part of a broad bioeconomy-oriented policy and renewable energy transition, is strongly related to high expectations regarding goals such as climate protection through greenhouse gas mitigation, energy security, and rural development (Gawel et al., 2019).”

“Indeed both agroecology and bioeconomy require transitions to innovative farming practices or sup-ply-chains (Donner and De Vries 2023; Gawel et al. 2019; Magrini et al. 2019a, b), but this deployment has its own business rationale.”

“The large-scale production of bioresources as industrial feedstock can entail trade-offs, for example regarding biodiversity conservation, environmental quality, and resulting human welfare (Gawel et al. 2019; Buchmann-Duck and Beazley 2020).”

“These concepts become central to our research design as a means to better understand the biocluster-internal aspects, and the di ff erent connections of bioclusters to the outside world.”

“Native hyaluronic acid-producing bacteria 3.3.”

“The bioeconomy is sustainable when certain conditions are met: (a) sustainability of processes and products; (b) sustainability of the resource base and (c) circular processes of material flows (Gawel et al 2019).”

“The European Commission describes the bioeco-nomy as the knowledge-based “production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value-added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products, and bioenergy” (Gawel, Pannicke, and Hagemann 2019).”

“…the development of studies addressing the bioeconomy and its associated products has increased during the last years (Di Letizia et al. 2023; Gawel et al. 2019; Liobikiene et al. 2019; Wohlfahrt et al. 2019; Farrapo et al. Jr 2023), focusing mainly on the economic and environmental…”

“In addition, forest destruction has resulted in floods, droughts and fires which disrupt the social and economic conduciveness of the affected areas [19, 20].”

“In the initiated transition to an innovation-driven and bio-based economy, particularly high expectations are attached to agriculture as a biomass supplier, one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas savings and job creation in rural areas [98,105,106].”

“Under the bioeconomy strategy and against the risk of unsustainable biomass use for the natural ecosystem [7–9], the European Union prioritises the use of biomass from residual and waste materials [10].”

“13 Currently, many ongoing bioeconomy-related development activities are heavily dependent on grants and other subsidies, especially for SMEs, and they are quite far from reaching economic profitability, even if their bio-based technology is reported to be on high TRL and BRL. Generally, the income…”

“The sustainability and qualitative growth of current production and consumption patterns may be improved through a change from a fossil-based throughput economy towards a bioeconomy with bio-based and recirculated products and renewable energy [4, 5].”

“However, studies already emphasized that bioeconomy strategies and policies do not automatically lead to more sustainability [8,9].”

“When specific requirements are met, the bioeconomy can advance toward sustainability: (i) the resource base is sustainable; (ii) processes and products are sustainable and (iii) transport of materials is viable [13].”

“This shift has prompted many nations to move away from traditional economic models towards a more integrated approach known as the BCG economy, which encompasses the bio-economy, circular economy, and green economy paradigms [1].”

“In other cases, the sustainability of the bioeconomy is conflated with the renewability of resources, and those two are both thought to be interchangeable with the sustainability or renewability of capital (Gawel et al., 2019; Birch and Tyfield, 2013).”

“It seeks sustainable ways of producing and consuming resources (Gawel et al., 2019), while respecting planetary boundaries (Rockström et al., 2023).”

“With appropriate strategies and investments, the continent can build on its agricultural, forestry, and fisheries sectors to create a new economic model that is not only sustainable but also highly profitable (Gawel et al. 2019).”

“approach that allows policy learning [22,23].”

“Fully biobased materials have the potential to alleviate these pressures due to their 100% renewability and their ability to decompose naturally [1, 4, 5].”