On April 22, International Mother Earth Day, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) officially launched the technical report Global Bio-based Economic Assessment: Synergizing Policy, Innovation and Sustainable Development for a Green Future. The report, led by Fudan University and the United Nations Environment Programme's International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), is the first technical report on global biobased economic assessment issued by UNEP.
On the same day, the press conference was held in Beijing. Liu Jian, Director of the Department of Early Warning and Assessment, UNEP, attended the meeting and addressed the meeting. Leaders, experts, scholars and research team members from the Center for International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China Agenda 21 Management Center, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University, Tongji University, Institute of Geographic Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Research Center for Ecological Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences attended the meeting.
Promoting the development of a global bio-based economy is crucial to achieving a green future
In the face of multiple sustainable development challenges such as global climate change, increasingly scarce resources and environmental pollution, how to rationally and efficiently use biomass resources, promote the vigorous development of bio-based economy, and establish a set of sustainable management mechanism of biomass resources for climate change adaptation has become the focus of current research. The bio-based economy, that is, economic activities that use biotechnology and biomass resources to produce goods, provide services or create energy, aims to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in the energy and industrial sectors and thus achieve the goal of green development. So far, more than 60 countries and regions have formulated the development strategy of bio-based economy, indicating the broad prospect and huge potential of this field.
The technical report "Global Biobased Economy Assessment: Synergistic Policy, Innovation and Sustainable Development for a Green Future" makes an in-depth and comprehensive assessment of the current situation and future development trend of the global biobased economy from three dimensions: policy orientation, technological innovation and sustainable development. The report not only sorts out the development policies and evolution of bio-based economy in various countries, looks forward to the future development trend, but also analyzes the broad prospects of bio-based products in technological innovation and application. In addition, the report evaluates the combined impacts of the biobank economy on land use, biodiversity and livelihood improvement, and provides a systematic and in-depth analysis of the biobank economy in terms of climate change mitigation, risk assessment and adaptation strategies. The report emphasizes that the synergistic promotion of policy guidance, technological innovation and sustainable development is essential to promote the healthy development of the global biobanc-based economy and achieve a greener and environmentally friendly future.
This paper discusses the sustainability of global bio-based economy from the perspective of systems thinking
Promoting the bio-based economy is of great significance to achieving a green future, but the process may also raise a series of new issues that pose serious challenges to the sustainability of the bio-based economy. For example, emerging bio-based technology products may produce unknown environmental impacts during the whole life cycle, and how to evaluate these impacts scientifically and comprehensively has become an important issue. In addition, in the context of globalization, the interests of all parties in the bio-based economic chain are closely linked, and once there is a conflict of interests, how to effectively coordinate to maintain the overall interests has become an urgent problem to be solved. At the same time, climate disasters and other risks pose a severe test to the stability and resilience of the bio-based economic supply chain, and how to formulate coping strategies to reduce the impact of risks has become the focus of in-depth research by the report writing team. Since March 2021, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the International Cooperation Program of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Fudan University, together with research teams from UNEP-IEMP and the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has conducted in-depth research on the sustainable development of bio-based economy. After more than three years of unremitting efforts and repeated polishing, this technical report that embodies the wisdom of international experts has finally been completed.
This report not only takes a comprehensive look at the life-cycle characteristics of biobased products from a systems thinking perspective, but also delves into technological innovations, challenges and prospects in the fields of bioenergy, biobased chemicals, biobased plastics and biobased macromolecular materials.
In particular, the report highlights the potential impacts of bio-based economic development on land use, biodiversity and livelihood improvement, noting that the demand for bio-based products and biofuels could lead to changes in land use patterns and agricultural production practices, which could compete with food production and affect natural ecosystems. The report therefore calls for sustainable practices and careful land-use planning to ensure a healthy bio-based economy.
In addition, the report also focuses on the impact of climate risks on biobased economic supply chains, suggesting that improving the climate mitigation benefits of biomass use and enhancing the climate change resilience of biobased product supply chains are key to achieving sustainable biobased economic development.
Zhang Linxiu, Senior Staff member of the United Nations Environment Programme and Director of UNEP-IEMP, spoke highly of the report, saying: "The sustainable development of the bio-based economy requires the participation of different stakeholders, and the report provides inspiring and valuable information for different stakeholders in the development of the bio-based economy." She further pointed out that the sustainable development of bio-based economy requires the joint participation and efforts of all stakeholders, and only through cooperation and coordination can we overcome the challenges on the road ahead and achieve a green, low-carbon and sustainable future.
Fudan scholars have taken active actions to provide scientific support for the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
According to the Environment Agency, about 11 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year, which could triple by 2040, and more than 800 Marine and coastal species are affected by plastic pollution, which is mainly made from fossil fuels such as oil and gas. The theme of this year's Earth Day is "Global War plastic", and the development of bio-based economy and the replacement of fossil-based materials with bio-based materials is an important path to achieve this goal. The technical report led by Fudan scholars is expected to help stakeholders more accurately grasp the development context of bio-based economy, provide scientific references for UNEP to formulate relevant environmental agendas and member states to formulate bio-based economy policies, and contribute to the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
As the lead author of the technical report, Wang Yutao, professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at Fudan University and vice president of the Shanghai Institute of Energy and Carbon Neutrality Strategy, led a team that has been engaged in environmental systems engineering and carbon neutrality research for a long time, and has made many progress in clean production and industrial ecology, carbon neutrality and bio-based economy, and green "Belt and Road" research in recent years. In December 2023, his team published the first research article on net zero emissions in the paper industry in the main journal of Nature, providing an important scientific reference for promoting the gradual decarbonization of the industrial sector and achieving the goal of net zero emissions. Sun Mingxing, Associate Researcher at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhang Linxiu, Director of UNEP-IEMP, are co-authors of the report.
In Wang Yutao's view, it is the mission of scholars to provide scientific support for the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with professional capabilities and promote global governance with scientific research. "The goal of developing a bio-based economy is to reduce dependence on fossil resources and truly achieve sustainable development. I hope this technical report can help countries and regions around the world better cope with climate change and coordinate to achieve green development and green transformation."
