The bioeconomy concept has emerged from niche interest to political mainstream with over 50 countries with dedicated bioeconomy strategy or related policies. It has also grown from a biotechnology-centric vision to an economic activity that spreads across several key sectors and policy families: agriculture and forestry, fisheries, food, trade, waste management and industry. As a result, the bioeconomy policy environment is much more complex than before.
Meeting Policy Challenges for a Sustainable Bioeconomy reflects this changing landscape. It sets out what a bioeconomy policy framework might look like based on the familiar innovation divisions of supply- and demand-side policies and brings up to date the science and technology implications for policy makers. It investigates key aspects surrounding the sustainability of bioeconomy development, including the use of biomass as feedstock for future production, the design and building of biorefineries for the manufacture of a range of fuels, chemicals, materials and for electricity generation, and the use of biotechnologies such as synthetic biology, metabolic engineering and gene editing. While the bioeconomy is consistent with sustainability policy (examples are the circular economy, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, green growth, re-industrialisation, rural regeneration, climate change mitigation), synergies must be ensured to avoid over-exploitation of natural resources and conflicting global needs.