“Bioeconomy need to be communicated and actualized for the citizens of EU.” Jukka Kantola, Chief Executive Officer of NC Partnering, a Finnish bioeconomy advisory company, talks to Il Bioeconomista regarding the state of the art of the bioeconomy in Finland.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Starting from last Friday, jet biofuel is offered to all airlines that refuel at Oslo Airport, making the airport the world’s first to offer this service through the normal supply mechanism. Air BP is the supplier of the jet biofuel and Lufthansa Group, SAS and KLM have already signed agreements to purchase the fuel.
The Italian green chemistry will speak American. Eni confirms that it is in search for a partner for Versalis, its synthetic rubber and chemicals company. In a meeting at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (Mise), between Mise, Eni, Versalis and representatives from the National Confederation of Industry and Trade Unions regarding the prospects for Eni’s petrochemical business, the Italian oil and gas company said it intended to retain a “significant stake” of Versalis in the partnership to “ensure its objectives are successfully met”.
“The shift to a European bioeconomy is now irreversible and this transition will now accelerate after the COP21”. John Bell, Director of Bioeconomy Directorate of the European Commission, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this long exclusive interview, the man who is leading the implementation of the European bioeconomy addresses different topics related to this new industrial revolution based on renewable biological resources.
“The sustainability of the bio-based solutions – Bell says – will have to be constantly demonstrated, communicated and debated with stakeholders if we want to convince policy-makers and embed the bioeconomy across Europe. This can happen at different levels. The European Commission is devoting resources to better study the overall biomass available in Europe and its uses, and to assess the efficiency of the bio-based solutions through life-cycle analysis.”
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Evonik expands its green venture capital activities into Asia. The German company announced last Thursday an investment in the Chinese venture capital fund GRC SinoGreen Fund III (GRC III). The parties agreed to not disclose the amount of the investment. As a result, the company is now represented in the most important venture capital regions of North America, Europe, and Asia. GRC invests in private, green technology companies with unique strengths and substantial growth potential in Greater China. Target sectors include energy and resource efficiency, cleaner transportation, sustainability, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
In 2013, bioeconomy in Italy has shown a production potential amounting to 244 billion euro, equal to 7.9% of the total value of national production, employing approximately 1.5 million people. Italy – only country among EU5 still without a National strategy on bioeconomy – is in third position. Germany is first with a production worth €343 billion and France second with €295 billion. Spain is fourth (€219 billion) followed by the UK (€170 billion). In these five countries, the bioeconomy is worth €1.27 trillion and employs 7 million people.
The Intesa Sanpaolo Research Department (Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the major banking group in Europe) and Assobiotec presented their second report dedicated to bioeconomy, which, in line with the definition of the European Commission, was defined as the set of activities using renewable natural resources to produce goods and energy, generating great advantages in terms of sustainability.
Global Bioenergies and LanzaTech announce the signature of a new collaboration agreement to broaden the feedstock flexibility of Global Bioenergies’ Isobutene process and the product-portfolio of LanzaTech’s carbon capture technology.
Global Bioenergies, French biotech company that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation, and Audi announce the signature of a new collaboration agreement to further broaden the feedstock flexibility of Global Bioenergies’ Isobutene process.
Dear Readers,
thank you very much, heartily. 2015 ended with excellent results for Il Bioeconomista: over 46% more visits to our blog. It is a real boom, which shows how 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.
Bio-on and SECI Spa, part of Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri holding, signed an agreement to build the world’s first facility for the production of PHAs bioplastic from biodiesel production co-products, namely glycerol. The two companies will work together to build a production site with a 5 thousand tons/year output, expandable to 10 thousand tons/year.
