Business

An exclusive interview with Gregory Jaffe (former USDA). “The Trump Administration will need to ensure the US has an enabling environment that supports the bioeconomy”

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Gregory Jaffe was Senior Advisor for Regulatory Affairs in the Office of the Secretary at USDA during the Biden Administration. He is now Founder and President of a policy consulting firm based in Washington DC, specializing in agriculture, food, environmental, and climate policy, both domestic and international.

In this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista, he talks about the prospects for the bioeconomy in the United States under the new Trump Administration and the relations between the United States and the European Union in this new era of tariffs.

“The Trump Administration – Jaffe says – will need to ensure the United States has an enabling environment that supports biotechnology, biomanufacturing, and the bioeconomy”.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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dsm-firmenich to sell stake in Feed Enzymes Alliance to its partner Novonesis for €1.5 billion

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dsm-firmenich, the Dutch multinational company active in nutrition, health, and beauty, sold its stake in the Feed Enzymes Alliance to its equal partner Novonesis, a global leader in biosolutions, for €1.5 billion. The dsm-firmenich activities to be sold under this transaction to Novonesis represented in 2024 approximately €300 million in total annual net sales. Novonesis will continue a long-term commercial relationship with the Animal Nutrition & Health business, for the re-sale of its feed enzymes through the Animal Nutrition & Health world-class premix network.

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Futerro launches engineering for its future European biorefinery

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Futerro, a Belgian company specialised in the production of lactic acid, lactide (two platform molecules) and PLA (polylactic acid), has launched the engineering and the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) – called “Avant-Projet Détaillé” in French – for its future European biorefinery to be located at Saint-Jean-de-Folleville between Rouen and Le Havre.

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Tomorrow starts in Brussels BioKET, the global event organized by B4c, the French Bioeconomy Cluster

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Square Cube in Brussels

Tomorrow starts in Brussels BioKET, the international conference organized by the French Bioeconomy Cluster, Bioeconomy for Change (B4C). BIOKET, short for BIOeconomy Key Enabling Technologies, is a global event dedicated to the processes and technologies applied to biomass. BIOKET – B4C states – was founded in 20018 to fill a niche in highlighting the Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) that are essential for transforming biomass into high value added products. 

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UPM Timber launches carbon storage calculator

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Source: UPM

UPM Timber has launched a carbon storage calculator on its website. With the carbon storage calculator, wood industry professionals, UPM Timber’s customers and consumers can easily calculate the amount of carbon sequestered in wood raw material and examine its climate impacts. 

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Metsä Group’s Kuura textile fibre shows competitive greenhouse gas emission level

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Metsa Spring’s team. Source: Metsa Group

Metsä Group has completed a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of its Kuura textile fibre. The assessment shows that Kuura’s global warming potential (GWP100, fossil) score is less than one-third of the next best option, viscose. The Kuura project is currently in a demonstration phase. The new textile fibre is being developed by Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring. The LCA was made by Etteplan. The LCA study and comparison to alternative cellulosic fibres were critically reviewed by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.

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An interview with Dirk Carrez, Executive Director of BIC (Biobased Industries Consortium).

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“Currently, there are policy frameworks for food, feed and bioenergy, but not for bio-based chemicals and derived materials. This gap puts the bio-based chemicals and derived materials sector at a disadvantage, and has also an impact on investments in Europe.”. Dirk Carrez, executive director of BIC (Biobased Industries Consortium) talks to Il Bioeconomista.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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Avantium and Amcor Rigid Packaging partner to advance more sustainable packaging with plant-based polymer releaf

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CEO Tom Van Aken and Her Majesty Queen Maxima. Source: Avantium

Avantium N.V., a leading company in renewable and circular polymer materials, signed a joint development agreement with Amcor Rigid Packaging USA, a  leader in responsible packaging solutions. This partnership aims to explore the use of Avantium’s plant-based polymer PEF – branded as releaf® – in rigid containers for various products, including food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home, and personal care.

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An exclusive interview with Frederic Van Gansberghe, CEO Futerro. The Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEO 2024

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Frederic Van Gansberghe, CEO Futerro

“For me and Futerro, innovation in the bioeconomy is all about reinvention and transition. It’s about finding alternative solutions that weave sustainability, circularity, and ecological resilience into the very core of what we do.” To say it – in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista – is Frederic Van Gansberghe, CEO of Futerro and the Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEO 2024.

According to him, “there is a clear gap between Europe’s ambitions and reality. Many industrial players usually ask to reduce the number of regulations and directives; in my case, I would request to increase their quality”

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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Ecoplanta receives approval: a major step forward with Enerkem’s waste-to-methanol technology

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Enerkem in Westbury, Quebec

The Repsol’s Board of Directors has officially approved the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Ecoplanta project, marking a significant milestone in the drive for the supply of sustainable fuel and product.

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