The Nordic countries have launched an ambitious plan to fast-track the development of a sustainable bioeconomy in the region. The Nordic Bioeconomy Programme describes 15 action points that push for a boost in research and innovation, policies to accelerate the transition, and stronger collaboration to develop new bio-based products and new markets. This will fuel growth in innovative bio-based businesses and pave the way for improved use of biological resources, including new value chains from crop residues, industrial sidestreams and wastes.

The Nordic countries are already well underway in exploring the potentials of new bio-based products and more resource-efficient utilisation of biological resources. The Nordic Bioeconomy Programme – 15 Action Points for Sustainable Change is the latest in a series of groundbreaking documents on developing a sustainable bioeconomy published by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The programme is divided into three key areas of action: innovate, accelerate and network. Among the 15 action points are higher R&D funding and more coherent research efforts across the region, investment support to scale up promising solutions, and several actions to develop better policy frameworks. The network part of the programme is focused on support for Nordic bioeconomy clusters, open access to test and demonstration facilities, and also on joining forces to influence international forums such as the EU, the UN Paris Agreement, and the WTO.

The vision behind the Nordic Bioeconomy Programme is to support the development of competitive bio-based industries, sustainable resource management, resilient and diverse ecosystems, and inclusive economic development. Main focus points include creating higher-value products from the biological resources and supporting job creation in rural areas of the region.

“We want to develop new technologies for processing bioresources that are not being used to their full potential,” says bioeconomy expert Lene Lange, member of the Nordic Bioeconomy Panel. “The aim is to improve resource efficiency by upgrading crop residues, industrial sidestreams and wastes to make higher-value products. This means producing, for example, health-promoting food and feed ingredients and bio-based materials and chemicals before using the residues from such biomass conversion to produce energy.”

“Improved resource efficiency is required to reach between as many as twelve and fourteen of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. It’s crucial that we use our bioresources better, whether aquatic or terrestrial, in order to reduce our CO2 footprint, mitigate climate change and create new jobs and livelihood opportunities, also in rural areas.”

While establishing competitive and sustainable bio-based industries is at the core of the Nordic Bioeconomy Programme, it is highlighted in the programme that increased knowledge sharing, cross-border innovation and coordinated policy efforts will be vital to achieve this goal. The 15 action points for sustainable change provide the Nordic countries with an opportunity to accelerate the transition toward a sustainable and resource-efficient bioeconomy, where nothing goes to waste, creating new industries, jobs and economic growth along the way.

Source: nordicway.org

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