A systematic approach to understanding and quantifying the EU’s bioeconomy

The bioeconomy employed approximately 18.4 million people in the European Union (EU) in 2014 while generating around 2.2 trillion euros of turnover. Over the period 2008-2014, almost all the EU bioeconomy sectors have experienced labour productivity gains. Agriculture and the manufacture of food, beverage and tobacco cumulated altogether the three quarters of the EU bioeconomy jobs and turnover, while the manufacture of bio-based chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber as well as the production of bioelectricity reach the highest sectorial labour productivity levels. This EU bioeconomy overview has been obtained after estimating the bio-based content of hundreds of products (Comext codes) produced and manufactured in the bioeconomy sectors. Using official statistics, such a quantification is easy to replicate and update. It also allows to highlight similarities and diversities in national bioeconomy patterns within the EU, as done in this paper to discuss how their analysis support the development of bioeconomy strategies in EU Member States.

RONZON Tevecia;  PIOTROWSKI Stephan;  M'BAREK Robert;  CARUS Michael; 

2017-05-22

FIRENZE UNIVERSITYPRESS

JRC103641

2280-6180,   

http://www.fupress.net/index.php/bae/article/view/20567,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC103641,   

10.13128/BAE-20567,