In 2018, bioeconomy in Italy has shown a production potential amounting to 345 billion euro, equal to approximately 10% of the total value of national production, employing approximately 2 million people. Italy is in third position at EU level. Germany is first with a production worth €414 billion and France second with €359 billion. Spain is fourth (€237 billion) followed by the UK (€223 billion). In these five countries, the bioeconomy is worth €1.568 trillion. Continue reading
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I must say how grateful I am to have been invited to be with you here today as we bring together the United Nations and the Commonwealth to discuss what we are calling The Great Reset. I would also like to thank the Permanent Representatives of Canada and Jamaica for convening this meeting and Prime Minister Trudeau for his inspiring leadership on the Green Recovery.
Amyris, Inc., a leading synthetic biotechnology company based in Emeryville (California), launched “Baby Cream to Powder” under its Pipette™ baby brand giving caring parents more choice and keeping babies safe. This safe, talc-free alternative to baby powder goes on as an easy-to-apply cream to prevent and treat diaper rash and irritation and transforms into a silky powder on skin, eliminating the risk of powder inhalation. The announcement by Amyris comes on the heels of news that the largest and leading provider of baby care products will stop selling talcum-based baby powder in the U.S. and Canada amidst questions about its product safety.
The need to react to the COVID-19 crisis is a unique opportunity to transform our economy and put forward the change that our society needs to create a sustainable and desirable future. A Circular Bioeconomy Roundtable convened by HRH The Prince of Wales last week discussed how this should be done: not just by designing recovery packages, but by transformative action to trigger mission-oriented innovation, attract investments and rethink business models and markets. Leading figures from science, the investment community and industry discussed how a circular bioeconomy offers game-changing solutions and is a crucial concept to move towards a carbon-neutral, renewable and inclusive economy that prospers in harmony with nature.
LanzaTech, a leading biotech company and carbon recycler headquartered in Illinois (USA), has successfully launched LanzaJet, Inc., a new company that will produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for a sector requiring climate friendly fuel options as it starts to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. With its approach to commercialization of SAF, LanzaJet is creating regional jobs while enabling global decarbonization of the aviation sector.
Beiersdorf and Evonik have reached an agreement on a research partnership. Its aim is to develop sustainable raw materials for care products, using carbon dioxide (CO2) as the starting material. Beiersdorf is on the lookout for new sources of raw materials that will also reduce the company’s carbon footprint. One option here is artificial photosynthesis technology. The idea: with the aid of electricity from solar energy and bacteria, valuable raw materials are produced with water and CO2, drawing on natural photosynthesis as a model. The joint research project of Evonik and Beiersdorf is being funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the amount of around €1 million.
Neste brings Neste MY Renewable Diesel™ to a significant number of new stations during April and May 2020 in Finland. With the expansion, Neste MY Renewable Diesel will be available at around 120 stations in growth centers as well as smaller towns.
Royal DSM, a purpose-led, global science-based company active in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, launched its new, high-quality life’sDHA® SF55-O200DS oil for maternal and early life nutrition solutions. Offering a higher potency, this ingredient contains a minimum of 550 mg/g natural triglyceride DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), allowing manufacturers to achieve equivalent dosages of DHA in smaller product formats and meet the latest maternal nutrition trend for convenient capsule and tablet sizes.
“I am convinced that this crisis will teach us many lessons and I am sure that the day after will find us working together to kick-star again our economies and drive our recovery towards a more resilient, green and digital EU.” Philippe Mengal, Executive Director of BBI JU, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this exclusive interview, he tells us how the European bioeconomy is reacting to the crisis of coronavirus.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
International investor groups, including the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), have encouraged global governments to ensure they are planning for a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by factoring in climate change risk into economic recovery plans.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 