Sustainability Performance of National Bio-Economies

Lisa Biber-Freudenberger, Amit Kumar Basukala, Martin Bruckner and Jan Börner
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Lisa Biber-Freudenberger: Center for Development Research, University of Bonn, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
Amit Kumar Basukala: Center for Development Research, University of Bonn, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
Martin Bruckner: Institute for Ecological Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1020 Vienna, Austria
Jan Börner: Center for Development Research, University of Bonn, D-53113 Bonn, Germany

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: An increasing number of countries develop bio-economy strategies to promote a stronger reliance on the efficient use of renewable biological resources in order to meet multiple sustainability challenges. At the global scale, however, bio-economies are diverse, with sectors such as agriculture, forestry, energy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, as well as science and education. In this study, we developed a typology of bio-economies based on country-specific characteristics, and describe five different bio-economy types with varying degrees of importance in the primary and the high-tech sector. We also matched the bio-economy types against the foci of their bio-economy strategies and evaluated their sustainability performance. Overall, high-tech bio-economies seem to be more diversified in terms of their policy strategies while the policies of those relying on the primary sector are focused on bioenergy and high-tech industries. In terms of sustainability performance, indicators suggest that diversified high-tech economies have experienced a slight sustainability improvement, especially in terms of resource consumption. Footprints remain, however, at the highest levels compared to all other bio-economy types with large amounts of resources and raw materials being imported from other countries. These results highlight the necessity of developed high-tech bio-economies to further decrease their environmental footprint domestically and internationally, and the importance of biotechnology innovation transfer after critical and comprehensive sustainability assessments.

Keywords: bioeconomy; green economy; sustainable development; bioproductivity; high-tech bioeconomy; knowledge-based bioeconomy; primary sector; typology; cluster analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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