The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) honored last 8 March the second annual National Biobased Products Day, a celebration to raise public awareness of biobased products, their benefits and their contributions to the U.S. economy and rural communities. “Bioproducts offer opportunities for more revenue streams for small and mid-sized farmers while giving consumers more in-demand, clean options for everyday items.”
A Festival that aims to engage youth as drivers of the transformative change required in view of the multiple challenges that Europe faces today, and to unlock the potential of the bioeconomy to make the transformation happen. This is the ‘Bioeconomy Changemakers Festival’ organised by the European Commission (DG Research and Innovation) in cooperation with the Bioeconomy Youth Ambassadors, and accompanied by independent satellite events all over Europe on March 13 and 14
In addition, the Festival helped the European Commission to gather views on an update of the Bioeconomy Strategy and Action Plan.
It took place between 11 and 17 of March 2024 in various locations across the EU, and comprised of:
The target audience of the high-level event of 13-14 March 2024 consists of bioeconomy stakeholders, regional, national and international policy makers and youth interested in the bioeconomy.
The satellite events, organised in 18 countries, are offering space for discussions, networking, and information on career opportunities.
Equal opportunity and equal treatment in the labour market are at the core of decent work. Unfortunately, women around the world still face additional hurdles to access employment, and once in employment, to access decision-making positions and jobs in certain sectors or of certain characteristics. This horizontal and vertical gender segregation of employment, combined with the unequal distribution of unpaid work (including household and childcare activities), results in differences in working conditions such as the gender pay gap and the over-representation of women in part-time jobs.
Airbus and TotalEnergies signed a strategic partnership to meet the challenges of aviation decarbonization with sustainable aviation fuel. In line with the objective of achieving net carbon neutrality of aviation by 2050, this partnership aims to contribute to the reduction of the sector’s CO2 emissions, in which Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) play a key role. SAF supplied by TotalEnergies – the Franch company claims – can reduce up to 90% CO2 emissions over lifecycle compared to their fossil fuel equivalent. These are biofuels produced from waste and residues from the circular economy (animal fats, used cooking oils, etc.) and “e-jets”, synthetic fuels for aviation.
Evonik and Uniper officially launched the Technical Options for Thermal Energy Recovery (TORTE) project in Gelsenkirchen. As one of the first phases of Evonik’s ‘Herne Green Deal’ to sustainably transform the Herne chemical site, the TORTE project will feed industrial waste heat from isophorone production into the district heating network. Around 1,000 homes in the Ruhr region will be supplied by the end of 2024.
The Commission published a detailed impact assessment on possible pathways to reach the agreed goal of making the European Union climate neutral by 2050. Based on this impact assessment, the Commission recommends a 90% net greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2040 compared to 1990 levels, launching a discussion with all stakeholders; a legislative proposal will be made by the next Commission, after the European elections, and agreed with the European Parliament and Member States as required under the EU Climate Law. This recommendation is in line with the advice of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) and the EU’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Thomas Philipon is the CEO of TotalEnergies Corbion, a global leader in the marketing, sales and production of PLA (Poly Lactic Acid). He is also the Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEO 2023 according to the readers of Il Bioeconomista. In this exclusive interview with us, Philipon talks about the meaning of innovation in the bioeconomy, the role played by TotalEnergies Corbion and above all the European legislative framework to support the ecological transition, in comparison with USA and China. “Europe – he states – is leading in the bioeconomy, but needs to support sectors like bioplastics, otherwise the risk is that we develop the know-how, but other areas of the world (USA and China), will scale up the production of these products”.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
The new organ of the Helsinki Music Centre played in a celebratory concert on January 1, 2024. The striking facade pipes of the Rieger organ are the first of their kind, crafted from Finnish, wood-based UPM Formi 3D biocomposite. The organ features 3D-printed sounding pipes and wind lines totalling 260 meters. With 124 sound registers divided among several different sets of pipes, it is the largest in Finland and Scandinavia, among the largest in Europe, and the largest modern organ placed in a concert hall worldwide.
Dear Readers,
we want to wish all of you a very happy, peaceful and healthy year, where we all will keep working together to make the circular bioeconomy happen.
Our readers have voted. The most innovative bioeconomy CEO 2023 is Thomas Philipon, CEO of TotalEnergies Corbion, a global technology leader in Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and lactide monomers. PLA is a biobased, recyclable, and biodegradable polymer made from annually renewable resources, offering a reduced carbon footprint versus traditional plastics. TotalEnergies Corbion, headquartered in the Netherlands, operates a 75,000 tons per year PLA production facility in Rayong, Thailand. The company is a 50/50 joint venture between TotalEnergies and Corbion.
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