This publication is a workshop report by the European Commission’s Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy. The workshop took place virtually on the 6th and 7th December, 2021. The objective of the workshop was to present the project PLANET BIO, being implemented by the LCA and Environmental Footprint team at the JRC’s Land Resources Unit.

Bioeconomy related innovations may have a pivotal role in support to a more circular and decarbonised economy. Nevertheless, it is essential to ensure at an early stage of development that such technologies are bringing more benefits than burdens, and that trade-offs are identified and minimized, to guide investment and technology deployment towards a sustainable economy.

Therefore, this project intends to develop an innovative robust framework - based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - for the environmental assessment of emerging technologies for bio-based products (BbP), as essential decision support for policy makers and investors. By comprehensively assessing new technologies and their potential upscale, considering alternative development scenarios, the framework will help to foster eco-innovation, to minimise impacts, and to unveil trade-offs, towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy. The development of this framework will be useful for various EU policies such as the Bioeconomy Strategy, the Circular Economy Plan and the European Green Deal.

Scientific importance, impact and added value

There is a great need for the development of methods to support decision making towards a sustainable bioeconomy, informing the selection of sustainable feedstock and pathways, for the production of bio- based products. Along these lines, this project aimed at:

• Contributing to the methodological development of prospective LCA. Prospective LCA has been gaining prominence in the assessment of environmental impacts of emerging technologies, but several methodological challenges exist related with the integration of the dimensions of scale and time. The project addressed these aspects by i) carrying out a systematic identification and classification of emerging processes for bio-based products production and upscaling approaches (scale dimension), and ii) developing an approach that enables the modelling of processes that will be at industrial scale in a future time (time dimension). Additionally, an assessment of the main uncertainty sources inherent to this type of studies is developed.
• Assessing environmental impacts under different technological and socio-economic scenarios. Several factors influence the deployment of the bio-based products technologies. To address them, a scenario analysis is performed by considering several factors that influence the development of bio-based products processes, such as biomass availability, climate conditions, or increase in food production, to provide a firm basis for further technology development.
• Providing support for policymakers and industry in the selection of sustainable pathways. The framework can support policymakers and industry in the selection of sustainable pathways for the production of bio-based products, which are still at an early stage of development. This will allow to steer investment and deployment of technologies that minimise environmental burdens and support the development of sustainable policies for the bioeconomy.

The main goal of the two-days’ workshop was to present the framework and the case studies in order to get feedback from the participants. The framework has been tested in four different case studies:

• the production of biopolymer from mango wastes
• the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from organic wastes by open mix cultures
• the production of bio-BTX
• the production of protein from CO2

The workshop was followed by 46 participants on 06/12 (14 from EC and 32 from other organisations) and 41 participants on 07/12 (8 from EC and 33 from other organisations). Most of the attendees came from leading universities and institutions focusing their studies or work on LCA methodology.

The development of this framework will be useful for various EU policies such as the Bioeconomy Strategy, the Circular Economy Plan and the European Green Deal.

The points presented in this report summarise the views expressed by the participants and do not imply a policy position of the European Commission, nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission are responsible for the use that might be made of this publication.