Is ‘bio-based’ activity a panacea for sustainable competitive growth?

Taking a European Union focus, this paper empirically focuses on the role of biomass for achieving a sustainable model of growth. To this end, an advanced multi-region multi-sector economic modelling approach is developed in tandem with a bio-based variant of a well-known global database. Employing a decomposition method of the market drivers, and classifying alternative future visions of the EU, the aim is to understand how public policies can influence the apparent trade-off between economic growth and sustainable resource usage. Results reveal that in achieving specific objectives (i.e., bioenergy usage, lower emissions etc.) public policy can be effective, although this can lead to broader economic issues of resource inefficiency and even direct policy conflicts.

PHILIPPIDIS George;  M'BAREK Robert;  FERRARI Emanuele; 

2016-10-20

MDPI AG

JRC102523

1996-1073,   

http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/10/806,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC102523,   

10.3390/en9100806,