Sufficiency, consistency, efficiency - three pillars for a sustainable economy
Sustainability concepts strive to reconcile ecology, economy and social concerns (Brundtland Report 1987). This cannot be achieved by merely converting industrial processes to renewable resources. Rather, the experience of recent decades has shown that both the well-known three-pillar model of sustainability "People - Planet - Profit" and the three principles "Sufficiency - Consistency - Efficiency" must be intertwined to enable sustainable economic activity [2]:
- Sufficiency: a reduced consumption of resources such as material and energy, which is achieved through more sustainable production and a change in consumer behavior - a counter-design to the "throwaway society".
- Consistency: the use of more ecologically compatible resources and technologies and the establishment of recycling systems for reuse - "away from the linear product economy to a circular economy" that manages without waste.
- Efficiency: the more productive use of raw materials and energy - often made possible by technical innovations.
Controversially discussed in this context, especially the aspect of sufficiency. For this requires not only a transformation of industrial or economic processes, but a rethinking of society as a whole. Aspects such as our consumer behavior as well as short product life cycles and the planned obsolescence of products are under scrutiny [3].
Nevertheless, it remains undisputed that Bioeconomics is not just a new technological concept, but a completely new economic system that can transform our entire society. What is needed is a comprehensive transformation of industry, business, research & development, politics and society - similar to the case of digitization. This is the only way to master the societal challenges of the future. The further development of the bioeconomy into a "circular/cycle-oriented bioeconomy" attempts to reconcile these requirements by ...
- the use of non-fossil, biogenic, renewable, and sustainably produced raw materials
- the use of circular recycling concepts such as closed-loop, cascade, and coupled use, as well as "cradle to cradle" - mutatis mutandis "approach to a continuous and consistent circular economy." which is oriented towards biological material cycles)
- Use of renewable energies for production
The establishment of circular economies stands alongside the consideration of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the resolutions of the Paris Agreement on climate protection is also the focus of the updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy published in 2018 [4] and the EU Commission's 2019 European Green Deal [5]. A sustainable circular bioeconomy can make a crucial contribution to achieving the goals of the European Green Deal.
