Ministers publish series of bioeconomy reports
- Published on: 22 May 2023
- Last updated on: 22 June 2023
The Ministers for Agriculture Food and the Marine today published two important reports relating to Irelands bioeconomy, namely the second progress report on the implementation of the National Policy Statement on the Bioeconomy, and the first report of the Bioeconomy Stakeholder Forum. Both reports were recently brought to Government.
The bioeconomy is the production, utilisation, and regeneration of biobased materials. It offers opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the agri-food system by replacing fossil-based resources and processes with biological ones, from biofertilisers and biopesticides, to new food sources, bio-based plastics and textiles, and biological waste management, to name just a few.
Ireland published a National Policy Statement on the Bioeconomy in 2018. This set out a vision to develop the bioeconomy. It established a Bioeconomy Implementation Group (BIG), co-chaired by the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Environment, Climate and Communications. It has representatives from a wide range of government departments and agencies. A Stakeholder Forum was also established.
The second progress report of the BIG identifies:
- increased policy and sectoral coherence with integration of the bioeconomy into important national policies and plans such as Food Vision 2030, the Climate Action Plan 2023, the Circular Economy Strategy, Impact 2030, Our Rural Future, and more
- over 38 new bioeconomy initiatives such as new research groups, investments for development of biorefineries, education and training programmes, and a wide range of new collaborative projects
- increased awareness raising particularly during the annual Bioeconomy Ireland Week
The report concludes there is a need to continue the good governance approaches that have been established but that there is now a need to scale up innovation and testing and demonstration facilities in particular, in order to move Irelands bioeconomy on to the next phase in its development.
Meanwhile, The Bioeconomy Stakeholder Forum, chaired by John Malone, identifies in its report that currently, the Irish bioeconomy has several lead innovators developing commercial biorefinery activities. However, it finds that developments are not sufficiently widespread nationally and identifies 15 specific areas that need to be addressed, from an auditing of current national bioeconomy facilities to the development of appropriately scaled biorefineries, amongst others.
Marking the publication of these 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 today 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 under way and can be expected by mid-2023. Our national efforts also complement EU Bioeconomy developments and Ireland strongly endorsed the EU Council Conclusions on the bioeconomy which were adopted at the April Agri Fish Council of Agriculture Ministers.”
Minister of State with special responsibility for research and innovation, Martin Heydon, said:
“My department has invested heavily in the bioeconomy, having committed over €25 million for research and innovation since 2018. The reports today 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.”
Minister of State with special responsibility for land use and biodiversity Senator Pippa Hackett said:
“The recent announcement of €20 million funding for Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiatives under the EU Just Transition Fund is an indication of this government's commitment to develop a sustainable and circular bioeconomy to benefit rural Ireland. The reports published today provide valuable guidance and recommendations which can inform this investment."
The reports are complemented by a recent 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.
Notes
Bioeconomy Implementation Group report to Government
Go to Item was unpublished or removed
The report provides updates across several areas, including:
- governmental coordination and stakeholder consultation
- increased sectoral policy coherence supporting strategic development and policy integration of the bioeconomy
- 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
- the development of modelling and monitoring approaches for structuring and mobilising bioeconomy development; and
- enhanced international engagement
Bioeconomy Stakeholder Forum Report
The 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 bioeconomy 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
- the importance of a national pilot scale bioeconomy facility
- the development of appropriately scaled biorefineries close to where bioresources are produced