Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Policies and Strategies for
Delivering a Sustainable
Bioeconomy: A European
Perspective
David Turley
NNFCC - The Bioeconomy Consultants, The Biocentre, York Science Park, UK
8.1 Introduction
Biomass-derived chemicals are an important part of what has become defined as
the 'bioeconomy', and the drivers encouraging the development of biobased
chemicals are in many ways tightly bound up with those designed to support the
wider development of a biobased economy.
The term bioeconomy has emerged to describe the concept of a biological-
resource-fuelled economy that parallels the fossil-fuelled economy in its diverse
range of products and in its mutual chemical, material and energy linkages. This
concept is commonly combined with that of resource and energy efficiency plus
reduced environmental impacts as a means of delivering what is seen as a more
sustainable economic model, more suited to a planet with finite fossil resources
and a burgeoning population with its associated material and energy demand.
