Bioeconomy - A Strategy for Austria.

This Bioeconomy Strategy provides orientation for all fields of action relevant to the bioeconomy up to 2030 and refers to an economic approach aiming at replacing fossil resources (raw materials and fuels) with renewable raw materials in all industrial and economic sectors that produce, process, handle or use biological resources, in order to help overcome global challenges such as climate change, food and water shortages, and increasing environmental pollution while strengthening economic developments. The Strategy is structured as follows: 1) Specification for a Bioeconomy Strategy, including: vision, mission, science and research; 2) Fundaments of a sustainable Bioeconomy, including: Bioeconomy guidelines, sustainable consumption; 3) Resources of Bioeconomy in Austria, including: agriculture, forestry, water management and its special forms, residues, by-products and waste; 4) Bioeconomy Technologies, including: agricultural cultivation, processing and harvesting technologies, transportation and logistic, conversion and biorefinery; 5) Bioeconomy Products, including: food and animal feed, materials; 6) Cross-cutting issues, instruments and fields of action, including: policy instruments, public sector as a role model, raising awareness and advice, legislation, training and teaching, digitalisation; 7) Outlook, including: National Bioeconomy Action Plan, clusters, monitoring.
The Strategy attempts to achieve the following goals: achievement of the climate goals; reduction of dependency on non-renewable raw materials; promoting innovation; promotion of economic development; securing and creating jobs; promotion of sustainable transformation of the society. In order to achieve its goals, the Strategy complies with Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on: greenhouse gas emissions’ reduction; resource efficiency, cascade use and circular economy; responsibility of consumers; energetic recycling; high level of air protection with regard to pollutants and other emissions; protection of soils, forests and biodiversity; priority to high-quality food production and supply and to fair and sustainable trade; improvement of plant varieties, crop plants and forest tree species, cultivation methods or biochemical processes to support environmental compatibility and soil quality; inclusion of all biogenic raw materials, in particular biogenic waste, wastewater and sewage sludge; expansion of the economic base of agricultural and forestry operations, preservation of agricultural land, greater focus on aquaculture and fish farming, considering the wide applications of algal biomass in pharmaceutical and food sectors; more wood products from domestic forests; supporting the founding and settlement of companies in the bio-based industry; creation of high-level and specialised jobs; progressive ban on plastic bags and other products.
The Strategy addresses three levels of application concerning relevant sectors where resources of bioeconomy are applicable (agriculture, forestry, water management and waste; food, animal feed, chemicals, energy): increasing efficiency at all levels of value chain; development of all renewable resources; increasing the opportunities for replacing fossil raw materials with renewable, bio-based ones; and it identifies several fields of action for each sector: strengthening of climate protection measures; avoidance of loss of space and of impervious surfaces; use of industrial wasteland; increased support for speciality crops, catch crops and contract farming; support for investment; securing the supply of biogenic raw materials; digitalisation and data management in agriculture; establishment of promotional measures (not only financial) to support environmentally friendly cultivation methods and management and farming methods; methods for harvesting and utilising all plant parts. increasing awareness in relation to bioeconomy; promotion of wood mobilisation; strengthening of forest spatial planning; protective functions (retention areas); compensation for additional costs of bio-based production; setting research priorities and developing new value creation and production concepts; measures to increase the vitality of cultures and stocks; energy generation from sewage treatment plants; development of new utilisation possibilities for sewage sludge and residues; development of new sources of raw materials in closed production system; vertical and urban farming as an opportunity for the bioeconomy; expansion of regional raw material logistics in waste management; marketing and use of by-products of crops; use of municipal biogenic waste; expansion of recycling options for residues from biogas plants; increase in the supply of raw materials through imports of biogenic residues, by-products and waste; research into usage and recycling concepts and into new technological approaches in the preparation and processing of biogenic raw materials; optimisation of resource efficiency in thermal utilisation; further development of emission standards for smaller incinerators; increasing the use of bio-based products in human food and animal feed; raising consumer awareness through labelling and quality marks; improving harvest and post-harvest technologies; avoidance of food waste in households, trade and out-of-home consumption; reduction of feed imports through by-products of biofuel production.