Twenty million jobs could be created worldwide through the power of nature, which could potentially address significant societal and environmental issues such as climate change, disaster risk, and food and water insecurity, as announced during the United Nation’s Biodiversity Conference, COP15, in Montreal.
German environment minister Steffi Lemke said on Tuesday she would soon send proposals to the cabinet for the country to withdraw from the use of crop-based biofuels to achieve reductions in greenhouse gases, International Press Agency Reuters states. “Biofuels stand for land consumption and loss of biological diversity,” Lemke said in a speech on Tuesday posted on the environment ministry’s website. “To replace only around 4% of fossil fuel use in German road transport, a land space in Germany and abroad is needed which represents about 20% of the German agricultural area. That is not future-orientated.”
Dear Readers,
thank you very much, again. 2022 was another great year for Il Bioeconomista, which continues to be considered as the most authoritative blog at world level. The bioeconomy is increasingly a phenomenon that attracts the attention of global public opinion and gratifies us as journalists, observers of a reality that we have always defined as the industrial revolution of the Third Millennium.
Today, a little more than 10 years since its foundation, we can say that Il Bioeconomista confirms itself as the world’s leading blog on bieconomy. Thank you so much. Our readers are mainly Europeans, but a growing number of readers are from the United States, Turkey, Canada, Brazil, India, Australia and Malaysia.
For us, it’s a tremendous encouragement to move forward, to offer you a blog that informs and promotes discussion on bioeconomy. The year that has just ended was very important for the global bioeconomy, with significant progress in terms of industry, research and awareness of the institutions, with the launch of the US National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative.
We are sure that 2023 will be another important year for the implementation of the bioeconomy. We will be again on your side to tell the facts and continue growing.
Happy new year!
Mario Bonaccorso
“The recognition of our sector through the application of specific NACE codes is an important element as it would allow a better measurement in the statistical field and the possibility of addressing specific legislative measures, such as financing or the creation of specific EER codes”. To say this – in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista – is Giulia Gregori, Strategic Planning and Corporate Communication manager at Novamont, the Italy-headquartered company which is leading the way in the world bioplastics sector.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
According to Reuters, the Biden administration could change the nation’s biofuel blending law next year to offer lucrative credits to electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla, a major rewrite that the oil industry criticizes as subsidizing the EV industry. The Renewable Fuel Standard, enacted in the mid-2000s, mandates the amount of biofuels like landfill or agricultural methane that oil refiners must blend into the nation’s fuel mix, or buy tradable credits – known as RINs – from those that do.
Our readers have voted. The most innovative bioeconomy CEO 2022 is Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium, the Dutch company that is a pioneer in the emerging industry of renewable and sustainable chemistry. Avantium is headquartered in Amsterdam, employing approximately 200 people, with extensive R&D laboratories and three pilot plants in Geleen and Delfzijl, the Netherlands.
The circular bioeconomy is innovation, the result of the skills and passion of researchers and managers able to create value and new high-qualified jobs, reconciling economy, society and the environment. At the end of 2014 Il Bioeconomista launched a new initiative: The 10 Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEOs.
We have asked a panel of world bioeconomy experts to tell us the Chief Executive Officers that have stood out as the most innovative during the last year.
Now we ask you to choose the most innovative CEO responding to our survey (open till December 13 at 7 am, Western European Time).
The most innovative CEO 2016 was Ken Richards (CEO of Leaf Resources, Australia)
The most innovative CEO 2017 was Tony Duncan (CEO of Circa Group, Australia)
The most innovative CEO 2018 was Jürgen Eck (CEO of BRAIN AG, Germany)
The most innovative CEO 2019 was Alex Michine (CEO of MetGen, Finland)
The most innovative CEO 2020 was Simão Soares (CEO of SilicoLife, Portugal)
The most innovative CEO 2021 was Jennifer Holmgren (CEO of LanzaTech, USA)
This is the result of 2022 (in alphabetical order)
Catia Bastioli, Novamont (Italy)
Dominique Boies, Enerkem (Canada)
Mathieu Flamini, GFBiochemicals (France)
Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech (USA)
Philippe Lacamp, SkyNRG (The Netherlands)
Matt Lipscomb, DMC Biotechnologies (USA)
Eric A. McAfee, Aemetis (USA)
Christophe Schilling, Genomatica (USA)
Nicolas Sordet, Afyren (France)
Tom van Aken, Avantium (The Netherlands)
“France has been involved and promoted the bioeconomy for a long time, even before the word bioeconomy was used. The effort for supporting valorization of biomass for producing energy chemicals and materials started in the 90’s with a dedicated agency so-called AGRICE”. To say this – in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista – is Florent Allais, President of the Centre Européen de Biotechnologie et de Bioéconomie based in Pomacle. With Prof. Allais we talk about the French and the European bioeconomy, the role of research and technology transfer and the importance of collaborations at European level.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
We receive and publish this post by Jukka Kantola, the founder of the World BioEconomy Forum. The World BioEconomy Forum is a global platform for circular bioeconomy stakeholders to share ideas and promote bio-based solutions.
We have witnessed that several economies are putting more efforts into the bioeconomy. Only in the last half year alone there have been multiple examples of work being carried out, despite other challenges, including the tail end of the pandemic, geopolitical tensions and energy prices.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 opened yesterday with the key aim of ensuring full implementation of the Paris Agreement. Discussions at COP27 begin near the end of a year that has seen devastating floods and unprecedented heat waves, severe droughts and formidable storms, all unequivocal signs of the unfolding climate emergency. At the same time, millions of people throughout the world are confronting the impacts of simultaneous crises in energy, food, water and cost of living, aggravated by severe geopolitical conflicts and tensions. In this adverse context, some countries have begun to stall or reverse climate policies and doubled down on fossil fuel use.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 