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12/03/2024

The Monitoring Bioeconomy Report 2024 published today

@CESR

Germany needs 2.8 times as much agricultural land to meet biomass demands than available within Germany. This is shown in the Bioeconomy Monitoring Report, which presents data on the performance and sustainability of the German bioeconomy.

Germany needs 2.8 times as much agricultural land to meet biomass demands than available within Germany. This was shown by a new report coordinated by CESR and published by the University of Kassel. The report presents new and updated indicators on the state, performance and sustainability of the German bioeconomy. It covers aspects spanning e.g. biomass production, innovation, socio-economic performance and environmental impacts. Key trends and future scenarios are showcased and assessed from a systemic sustainability perspective. Altogether:

  • The bioeconomy provides a wide range of sustainable development potential for Germany, e.g. in the field of biotechnology;
  • It is crucial that the use of biomass supports economic and social development within ecological limits;
  • Future measures should aim for a smarter, more efficient, sufficient and regenerative use of biomass;
  • Shifting diets towards less meat and milk is a key lever for reducing environmental footprints (saving land, water and biodiversity while reducing GHG emissions);
  • Monitoring of the German bioeconomy should continue to provide an overview of socio-economic and environmental performance from a systems perspective, and in the context of global sustainable development goals.

With over 40 contributing authors from more than 10 institutions, this report showcases the key results of two major research projects (SYMOBIO 2.0 and MoBi II) focused on consolidating the systemic monitoring and modelling of the German bioeconomy.

The report ‘Monitoring the German Bioeconomy: Status, performance, trends and implications for sustainable development’ and extended summaries (in English and German) can be found here.