Sustainability of bio-based products – international governance aspects and market update

Building on the state of the art, including past and ongoing EU-funded projects, this action will bring together global sustainability experts in bio-based innovation (focus on bio-based products) to strengthen the common understanding of sustainability goals and green innovation, and to provide reliable and easy-to-use data for policymakers, consumers and end-users. Cooperation with key European and non-European bioeconomy leaders and international organisations, and the bio-based industry is strongly encouraged.

The action will:

• address the main issues concerning the sustainable bioeconomy and its practical implementation in global value-chains;
• promote the sharing of best practice as regards corporate responsibility; and
• deliver specific recommendations taking account of existing standards and the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, enriched by specific challenges and the potential of renewable, innovative and safe bioproducts [[e.g. see recommendations developed by European Committee for Standardisation Technical Committee 411 (CEN/TC411) on bio-based products: (https://standards.cen.eu/dyn/www/f?p=204:32:0::::FSP_ORG_ID,FSP_LANG_ID:874780,25&cs=1D63BAA7EABE56EB230DDAA05D6F2CE70), and those published on the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/lca.htm): EN 16751:2016 (Bio-based products – Sustainability criteria), EN 16760:2015 (Bio-based products – Life cycle assessment), CEN/TR 16957:2016 (Bio-based products – Guidelines for Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) for the End-of-life phase); Commission Recommendation 2013/179/EU on the use of common methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organi­sations (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32013H0179&from=EN); International reference life cycle data system (ILCD) Handbook developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?page_id=86); Guide for interpreting life cycle assessment result (2016), developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre, 2016 (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/guide-interpreting-life-cycle-assessment-result).]]

The Commission considers that proposals requesting an EU contribution of up to EUR 1.5 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. This does not preclude the submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

The UN sustainable development goals are at the top of the international science, technology and innovation (STI) policy agenda. Among the key objectives of policies to improve sustainability is the development of renewable, innovative bioproducts beyond biofuels and traditional products[[See a related topic RUR-21-2020 (“Agricultural international trade in the context of the sustainability objectives”) in the Rural Renaissance call.]] that:

• have a small (low-carbon) environmental footprint;
• contribute to more circularity and resource efficiency; and
• support the shift from non-renewable fossil resources, while taking account of the international context[[e.g. ongoing work in international organisations such as the OECD (Working Party on Bio-, Nano-, and Converging Technologies) and the FAO, European national and international efforts (e.g. Global Bioeconomy Summit, International Bioeconomy Forum) and other initiatives (e.g. Ellen McArthur Foundation CE100.CO. Project on renewable materials).]].

The challenge involves comprehensive analysis of:

• diverse sustainability-related aspects of bio-based industrial products[[Taking account of the principle of cascade use, existing criteria for bioenergy product sustainability and existing approaches to indirect land-use change (ILUC) for bioenergy for the development of ILUC factors for bio-based products.]];
• local vs. global value chains, and their carbon and environmental footprint;
• global value chain traceability; and
• use of specific certification and labelling schemes.

Better understanding in this regard could lead to more sustainable value chains, greater trust and acceptance by consumers and end-users, and awareness among decision-makers. In the long term, better understanding of sustainability standards can lead to a closer alignment of growth and circularity and ultimately increase the market share of the resulting novel bio-based products.

In the framework of the renewed 2018 European bioeconomy strategy[[Action no. 3, point 3.1.3 “Study and analysis of enablers and bottlenecks and provide voluntary guidance to the deployment of bio-based innovations”.]] related to voluntary guidance on bio-based innovations, proposals are expected to:

Short/medium term:

• contribute to the global discussion on efficient, implementable and fit-for-purpose sustainability schemes, criteria and indicators;
• feed into ongoing international efforts in this regard (e.g. OECD);
• support dialogue between regulators and the bio-based industry;
• improve understanding of the international dimension of the guidance and identification of bottlenecks, enablers and gaps that influence synergies and the deployment of bio-based innovations;
• strengthen corporate responsibility and awareness as regards bio-based innovations, circularity and sustainability, building trust between stakeholders;
• widen the use of bio-based standards and certification schemes and increase the role of bio-based products in sustainability schemes, e.g. (eco)labelling; and

Long term:

• support the creation of a market pull for European and global bio-based products.