Two reports on the bioeconomy, which were released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) this week, recommend the development of appropriately scaled biorefineries.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State at the DAFM, Martin Heydon released the second progress report on the implementation of the National Policy Statement on the Bioeconomy, and the first report of the bioeconomy Stakeholder Forum.
The bioeconomy is the production, utilisation, and regeneration of bio-based materials.
According to the DAFM, it offers opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the agri-food system by replacing fossil-based resources and processes with biological ones.
These could range from bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides, to new food sources, bio-based plastics and textiles, and biological waste management.
Bioeconomy reports
The Implementation Group report to government provides updates across several areas, including:
- Governmental coordination and stakeholder consultation;
- Further development of existing bioeconomy initiatives such as research centres and the funding of new collaborative projects, clusters, and networks to enable scientific, technological and innovation development and diffusion of knowledge;
- Increased awareness raising through bioeconomy Ireland week and other events;
- Development of modelling and monitoring approaches for structuring and mobilising bioeconomy development;
- Enhanced international engagement;
- Increased policy and sectoral coherence with integration of the bioeconomy into important national policies and plans such as Food Vision 2030, Climate Action Plan 2023, Circular Economy Strategy, Impact 2030, Our Rural Future.
The Bioeconomy Stakeholder forum report identifies 15 elements to be addressed in the short- to medium-term. These include:
- The need to develop sustainability and circularity targets and related key performance indicators;
- An audit of current facilities;
- Enhance existing innovation supports and structures in place to translate valuable outputs and intellectual property (IP) from research producing organisations, technological universities and universities to industry and society;
- Importance of a national pilot scale bioeconomy facility;
- Development of appropriately scaled biorefineries close to where bioresources are produced.
According to the two ministers, the report concludes there is a need to continue the “good governance approaches that have been established”.
However, they added that there is now a need to scale up innovation and testing and demonstration facilities in particular, in order to move Ireland’s bioeconomy on to the next phase in its development.
Ministers’ comments on reports
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said:
“Both Food Vison 2030 and the Climate Action Plan 2023 identify bioeconomy as an important strategic cross-cutting policy to support transformative economic, environmental and social developments for the agri-food sector.
“The two reports I am publishing will support a good governance approach for bioeconomy policy implementation and for generating the evidence base to develop a National Bioeconomy Action Plan.
“The development of this plan is well underway and can be expected by mid-2023.”
Minister of State with special responsibility for research and innovation, Martin Heydon, added that the DAFM has invested heavily in the sector, having committed over €25 million for research and innovation since 2018.
“The reports highlight that this investment has been a core pillar of bioeconomy development to date, and there is now a need to build on this excellent work by integrating and scaling up the results into commercial practice,” he said.
The reports are complemented by a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on Circular Bioeconomy in support of Climate Action, Sustainable Food and Biobased Systems.
This report provides an outlook for Ireland’s circular bioeconomy for the period 2030–2050, highlighting the potential to create economic, environmental, and social opportunities for new biobased innovations.