Strategies and Policies for the Bioeconomy and Bio-Based Economy: An Analysis of Official National Approaches

Louise Staffas, Mathias Gustavsson and Kes McCormick
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Louise Staffas: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Box 21060, Stockholm SE-10031, Sweden
Mathias Gustavsson: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Box 53021, Göteborg SE-40014, Sweden
Kes McCormick: International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Box 196, Lund SE-22100, Sweden

Sustainability, 2013, vol. 5, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: The onset of formulating strategies and policies regarding the bioeconomy can be, at least partly, attributed to the publication of the policy agenda on the bioeconomy by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2009. The aim of this study is to analyze selected national strategies and policies regarding the development of a bioeconomy and to clarify similarities and differences between them. The article presents a comparative overview of the strategies and policies for developing a bioeconomy in the EU, USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Australia. The documents analyzed are in most cases national strategies or policies. The structures and aims of these documents vary and the analysis is further complicated by the terms “bioeconomy” and “bio-based economy” having as yet no clear definition, a point which is discussed in some depth in this article. In the documents analyzed, strategies and policies on how to promote the bioeconomy are often presented based on the prerequisites of the country in focus; the need for increased research, development and demonstrations in the area is thus particularly stressed. The main emphasis is often to enhance the economy of a nation and provide new employment and business possibilities, whereas the aspects of sustainability and resource availability are addressed only to a limited extent in many of the documents.

Keywords: bioeconomy; bio-based economy; strategy; policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (122)

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