Global forest resources assessment 2000 : main report

Forests provide a series of ecosystem services that are crucial to our society. In the European Union (EU), forests account for approximately 38% of the total land surface1. These forests are important carbon sinks, and their conservation efforts are vital for the EU's vision of achieving climate neutrality by 20502. However, the increasing demand for forest services and products, driven by the bioeconomy, poses challenges for sustainable forest management. Here we use fine-scale satellite data to observe an increase in the harvested forest area (49 per cent) and an increase in biomass loss (69 per cent) over Europe for the period of 2016-2018 relative to 2011-2015, with large losses occurring on the Iberian Peninsula and in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Satellite imagery further reveals that the average patch size of harvested area increased by 34 per cent across Europe, with potential effects on biodiversity, soil erosion and water regulation. The increase in the rate of forest harvest is the result of the recent expansion of wood markets, as suggested by econometric indicators on forestry, wood-based bioenergy and international trade. If such a high rate of forest harvest continues, the post-2020 EU vision of forest-based climate mitigation may be hampered, and the additional carbon losses from forests would require extra emission reductions in other sectors in order to reach climate neutrality by 20503.

Abrupt increase in harvested forest area over Europe after 2015

Aquaculture's pressure on forage fisheries remains hotly contested. This article reviews trends in fishmeal and fish oil use in industrial aquafeeds, showing reduced inclusion rates but greater total use associated with increased aquaculture production and demand for fish high in long-chain omega-3 oils. The ratio of wild fisheries inputs to farmed fish output has fallen to 0.63 for the aquaculture sector as a whole but remains as high as 5.0 for Atlantic salmon. Various plant- and animal-based alternatives are now used or available for industrial aquafeeds, depending on relative prices and consumer acceptance, and the outlook for single-cell organisms to replace fish oil is promising. With appropriate economic and regulatory incentives, the transition toward alternative feedstuffs could accelerate, paving the way for a consensus that aquaculture is aiding the ocean, not depleting it.

Correction for Feeding aquaculture in an era of finite resources

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Leading the way to a European circular bioeconomy strategy

Lactic acid (LA) is a platform chemical which can be produced biotechnologically on agricultural residues, wastes and by-products and further used for production of biodegradable, biocompatible LA polymers. These polymers are mostly used for high-end applications but they have potential for much wider application with decrease in production costs. Available technologies and strategies are reviewed in order to point out the issues, challenges and solutions relevant to increase sustainability and competitiveness of LA production on agricultural residues and wastes. Data on chemical composition, regional and seasonal availability of agricultural residues, wastes and by-products are lacking to provide predictable and effective combining for LA production. Precision agriculture, remote sensing and integration with data on chemical composition can help in better planning and more adequate exploitation of available sources in future. Novel pretreatments for the most abundant lignocellulosic feedstocks, which allow utilization of carbohydrates in LA production and side streams like lignin in other biorefineries are needed. Integration of pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation under non-sterile conditions or open fermentation mode should enable easier scale up and decrease energy consumption and costs without sacrificing LA purity. Capital investments in improvement of the available technologies are high. Support from policy makers stimulating production of LA polymers from second and third generation feedstocks will help in research, development and faster adoption on larger scale. For production of LA polymers with tailored properties, it is essential to choose the most productive method for LA production and separation from these complex substrates. The shift in research interest from LA polymerization towards “green” processing of LA polymers products is occurring and that will be the additional driving force for the field in future.

Towards sustainability of lactic acid and poly-lactic acid polymers production

Biomass production, supply, uses and flows in the European Union - First results from an integrated assessment

The EU legislation contains a set of mandatory targets specific for the EU transport sector which aims at achieving the overall objective of a European sustainably fuelled transport system. In particular, Directives 2009/28/EC (Renewable Energy Directive) and 2009/30/EC (Fuel Quality Directive) fix a threshold of 35% savings of GHG emissions for biofuels and bioliquids and set out the rules for calculating the greenhouse impact of biofuels, bioliquids and their fossil fuels comparators. To help economic operators in calculating GHG emission savings, default and typical values are also listed in the Annexes of the two directives, which were calculated on the basis of the JEC (JRC-EUCAR-CONCAWE consortium) database of input data in its version of 31 July 2008, following a consultation process with stakeholders launched by the Commission. According to article 19.7 in the Renewable Energy Directive and 7d.7 in the Fuel Quality Directive, the Commission can also adapt default values to technical and scientific progress by updating the existing values and by adding additional pathways. On request of the Commission’s DG ENER, the JRC worked on the update of the existing input database, and the list of pathways in the Directives will therefore likely be modified accordingly. This report aims at describing the JRC assumptions made to build-up the dataset used for the calculation of default GHG emissions for the different pathways in annexes of the Directives. Data are updated until december 2015.

Definition of input data to assess GHG default emissions from biofuels in EU legislation

The use of woody biomass for energy production in the EU

Bioeconomy Report 2016

The new EU Bioeconomy Strategy, adopted in 2018 is more relevant within the actual political, environmental and social context than ever before. In these times of acute awareness of global climate change impacts and related challenges for sustainable development, the EU Bioeconomy is perceived a crucial stepping stone to changing our whole development paradigm and to trigger systemic change. Bioeconomy is intended to contribute to the decarbonisation of our economy, to catalyse changes in consumer habits and will modernise our industries throughout the value chain. But is it all good? At what cost to primary productions systems? Can the bioeconomy really deliver on its promises while ensuring biodiversity enhancement and the improvement of our planet’s overall health? To what extent will societies benefit from a transition from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy? This document describes the first year of the development of the EU Bioeconomy Monitoring System by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in collaboration with experts throughout European and International organisations, EU Member States, Commission Services and other stakeholders to assess questions such as those posed above. The framework is designed to house several basic indicators that are, analogous to the instruments of a symphony, in themselves useful and meaningful but whose value is enhanced once they are placed within an orchestra. Only when the indicators interplay jointly the ensemble is capable of estimating the progress of EU bioeconomy and its contribution towards the Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting related trade-offs and synergies. In this first year, the development of the monitoring system has focused on structuring the framework, thus creating a better understanding of the bioeconomy as it is presented in various sources at national, EU and international levels. Criteria have been established to assess indicator quality, which is relevant to the final decision on indicator inclusion. This document represents a status report on the development of the EU-wide monitoring system for the Bioeconomy and by no means does it constitute the finished work. Comments are always welcome, please write to: JRC-Bioeconomy-Monitoring@ec.europa.eu.

Giuntoli Jacopo

Papers

Biomass production, supply, uses and flows in the European Union - First results from an integrated assessment

Definition of input data to assess GHG default emissions from biofuels in EU legislation

The use of woody biomass for energy production in the EU

Bioeconomy Report 2016

Building a monitoring system for the EU bioeconomy