Tévécia Ronzon

This chapter emphasises the strong interlink between the diversity of bioeconomy visions that emerged around the world in recent decades and the framing of bioeconomy statistical frameworks. Today, two main visions of the bioeconomy coexist. One is science and technology centered, depicting the bioeconomy as a core element of the biotechnology industry. Associated bioeconomy statistical frameworks emphasise the role of research and innovation and information technology activities within their sectorial scope and delineate bioeconomy activities according to the processes they implement. The other vision is more centered on the objective of substituting non-renewable resources in the production of bio-based products and bio-based energy. Associated statistical frameworks restrict their scope to those activities that either produce or transform biomass. Using the example of the value-added indicator, the chapter shows that these two visions and associated frameworks yield very different estimates. A second part illustrates different development strategies across the European Union through the lens of the statistics of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, showing bioeconomy orientations in Europe distribute around the concentration/diversification and labour-intensive/labour-productive axes. The statistics used for that analysis are compared with four other quantification methods, highlighting (1) their complementarities for the monitoring of bio-based markets, bio-based services, bioeconomy sourcing activities (upstream activities), and (2) the use of economic multipliers for identifying the sectors that have the highest potential for generating additional outputs.

This paper reviews the main approaches found in the literature to measure the size of the European bioeconomy. The various estimations published might be confusing at first sight, reporting a value added of the European bioeconomy within the large range of EUR 881 billion to EUR 2.3 trillion. However, each approach is best suited to measuring a different aspect of the bioeconomy. Using the different approaches, we estimate that markets of bio-based products and energy generate EUR 730-790 billion of value added, the use of biomass within the European economy generates EUR 670 billion of value added, and the sourcing of core bioeconomy industries with goods and services generates EUR 270 billion of value added. There is no evidence of an increased use of biomass inputs in EU industries in substitution of fossil resources, nor of a decreasing dependence of traditional bioeconomy industries towards fossil resources over the period 2005-2015.

Using the latest release of employment and value added numbers in the bioeconomy sectors, we conducted an analysis on the performance of the EU bioeconomy during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Our findings point to a possibly higher level of resilience of the bioeconomy sectors compared to the overall economy. While employment in the bioeconomy registered a similar (but slightly sharper) decrease to the total EU average (-1.7% vs. -1.4%), the value added fell substantially below average (-0.4% vs. -4.0%). The more contemporary biomass-processing sectors (chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as bioelectricity) performed better than the more traditional sectors (such as food or textiles). At the Member State level, we observe a high degree of heterogeneity in sectoral performance. By discussing these estimates alongside previous qualitative insights from the related literature, we emphasize the relevance of the bioeconomy not only for environmental sustainability but also for socioeconomic resilience.

The bioeconomy is a collective of activities charged with the production of biologically renewable resources or ‘biomass’ (e.g. agriculture, forestry), its diverse application (e.g. food, textiles, construction, chemicals) and subsequent reuse (e.g. compositing, waste management). Since the European Union (EU) launched its bioeconomy strategy in 2012, further bioeconomy policy initiatives have proliferated at regional, national and pan-European levels. Moreover, the EU Green Deal announced in 2019 targets a transition towards a low-carbon sustainable model of growth, food and energy security, biodiversity and natural resource management, where it is envisaged that the bioeconomy will play a key role. Despite a paucity of available data, the surge in policy interest has triggered the need for evidence-based monitoring of bioeconomy sectors and the efficient tailoring of policy support. Thus, on a Member State (MS) basis for the period 2008–2017, we (1) adopt an ‘output-based’ approach to construct a panel data of performance indicators and (2) characterise the sources of growth and transitional stage of the bioeconomy. Results reveal that the bioeconomy has maintained its relative importance within the total EU27 economy. At the EU level, agriculture and the food industry have played a key role in driving a transition in the primary and industrial bioeconomy sectors due to their significant labour productivity-enhancing impact. Four Northern MS exhibit a bioeconomy transition by modernising their bioeconomy activities and operating structural changes. Other Northern and Western EU MS are still in the early stages of a transition, whilst in Eastern and Central Europe, such a transition remains elusive.

The EU’s 2018 Bioeconomy Strategy Update and the European Green Deal recently confirmed that the bioeconomy is high on the political agenda in Europe. Here, we propose a conceptual analysis framework for quantifying and analyzing the development of the EU bioeconomy. The bioeconomy has several related concepts (e.g., bio-based economy, green economy, and circular economy) and there are clear synergies between these concepts, especially between the bioeconomy and circular economy concepts. Analyzing the driving factors provides important information for monitoring activities. We first derive the scope of the bioeconomy framework in terms of bioeconomy sectors and products to be involved, the needed geographical coverage and resolution, and time period. Furthermore, we outline a set of indicators linked to the objectives of the EU’s bioeconomy strategy. In our framework, measuring developments will, in particular, focus on the bio-based sectors within the bioeconomy as biomass and food production is already monitored. The selected indicators commit to the EU Bioeconomy Strategy objectives and conform with findings from previous studies and stakeholder consultation. Additionally, several new indicators have been suggested and they are related to measuring the impact of changes in supply, demand drivers, resource availability, and policies on sustainability goals.

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper

The development of the bioeconomy—or the substitution of fossil-based materials and energy by bio-based solutions—is considered a strategic economic orientation by the European Commission and its Green Deal. This paper presents a methodology to monitor the contribution of the bioeconomy to jobs and growth within the European Union (EU) and its Member States. Classified as an ‘‘output-based’’ approach, the methodology relies on expert estimations of the biomass content of the bio-based materials produced in the EU and the subsequent calculation of ‘‘sectoral’’ bio-based shares by using Eurostat statistics on the production of manufactured goods (prom). Sectoral shares are applied to indicators of employment, and value added is reported in Eurostat–Structural business statistics. This paper updates the methodology and time series presented in 2018. The bioeconomy of the EU (post-Brexit composition) employed around 17.5 million people and generated €614 billion of value added in 2017. The study evidences structural differences between EU national bioeconomies, which become more pronounced over time, especially in terms of the level of apparent labour productivity of national bioeconomies. Finally, this paper describes cases of transition over the 2008–2017 period.

The monitoring of the European bioeconomy is hampered by a lack of statistics on emergent and partially bio-based sectors. In this study, we complete the picture of the bioeconomy in the European Union (EU) by first estimating a set of socioeconomic indicators in missing sectors. Second, we identify four broad bioeconomy patterns within the EU that differ according to the specialisation of Member States’ labour markets in the bioeconomy (location quotient) and according to the apparent labour productivity of their bioeconomies. The patterns are geographically distributed in (i) Eastern Member States and Greece and Portugal; (ii) Central and Baltic Member States; (iii) Western Member States; and (iv) Northern Member States. They are strongly related to the level of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Member States, and to their political histories (e.g., their year of accession to the EU, and the existence and maturity of their bioeconomy strategies). Within each group, diversity exists in terms of sectoral bioeconomy development. Third, we examine temporal dynamics over the period 2008–2015, stressing with the cases of Slovenia, Portugal, Greece and Finland that a transition from one group to another is possible. Finally, we take a closer look at the East–West bioeconomy disparities within Europe and suggest measures to promote EU bioeconomies.