National Bioeconomy Strategy.

This Policy implements the German Federal Government goals for sustainable economic growth through a bio based economy that will represent the goals set out in the UN’s 2030 Agenda. Around a dozen of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by international community are represented in this Policy, although transformation to sustainable business with be possible with extensive support from the society at large. The strategic goals of this Policy can be summarised as follow: Development bioeconomy solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (1); Recognise and harness the potential of the bioeconomy within ecological boundaries (2); Enhance and apply biological knowledge (3); Establish a sustainable raw material base for industry (4); Promote Germany as the leading location of innovation in the bioeconomy (5) and involve society and strengthen national and international collaboration (6). These goals are also considered for research funding and a policy framework. Germany is willing to transit from an economy largely based on fossil raw materials to a more resource-efficient and circular economy based on renewable resources. The German Federal Government defines “biodiversity” as the production, exploitation and use of biological resources, processes and systems to provide products, processes and services in all economic sectors within the framework of a sustainable economic system. The bioeconomy aims to provide solutions to the great challenges of the 21th century. The decision as to whether a product, a process or a service is aligned with the bioeconomy depends on the biological resources used. The goal for the using bioeconomy to achieve sustainability and climate goals is supported through two implementing guidelines that are harnessing biological knowledge and responsible innovation for sustainable, climate-neutral development and using biogenic raw materials for a sustainable and circular economy. For implementing the 2030 Agenda the Policy provides for guaranteeing food security for a growing work population, uses climate-neutral production to achieve the 1.5°C goal and to protect, maintain and use biodiversity.
For a sustainable bioeconomy taking coherent in different and sensible action in different economic sectors is required including reduction of the pressure on land, sustainable production and supply of biogenic raw materials, establishment and development of bioeconomy supply chains and networks, market launch and establishment of bio-based products, process and services, exploitation of the potential inherent in the bioeconomy for the development of rural areas and exploitation of the potential of digitisation for the bioeconomy. Political coherence shall focus on industrial policy, energy policy, agricultural, forestry and fisheries policy and climate and environmental policy. The National Bioeconomy Strategy benefits from the efforts made by federal states to develop their own strategies, launch funding initiatives, develop region-specific profiles of the bioeconomy, and build clusters and regional networks. International cooperation both within the European Union and with other international partners will be further expanded and intensified as part of the implementation of this strategy. All the measures that the German Federal Government will take in the coming years in the various fields of the bioeconomy - research, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, environment, climate, industry - will be evaluated for their effectiveness. It is necessary to constantly review the strategy and to develop it further by updating the implementation plan.
This Policy consists of 5 Chapters as follow: Bioeconomy for a sustainable future (1); The Bioeconomy strategy of the German Federal Government (2); Research funding for a sustainable bioeconomy (3); Areas of action to improve the framework for a sustainable bioeconomy (4); Overarching instruments (5).