Introducing a Degrowth Approach to the Circular Economy Policies of Food Production, and Food Loss and Waste Management: Towards a Circular Bioeconomy

Abstract

There is a growing debate surrounding the contradiction between an unremitting increase in the use of resources and the search for environmental sustainability. Therefore, the concept of sustainable degrowth is emerging aiming to introduce in our societies new social values and new policies, capable of satisfying human requirements whilst reducing environmental impacts and consumption of resources. In this framework, circular economy strategies for food production and food loss and waste management systems, following the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, are being developed based on a search for circularity, but without setting limits to the continual increase in environmental impacts and resource use. This work presents a methodology for determining the percentage of degrowth needed in any food supply chain, by analyzing four scenarios in a life cycle assessment approach over time between 2020 and 2040. Results for the Spanish case study suggested a degrowth need of 26.8% in 2015 and 58.9% in 2040 in order to achieve compliance with the Paris Agreement targets, highlighting the reduction of meat and fish and seafood consumption as the most useful path.

A Novel Composite Index for the Development of Decentralized Food Production, Food Loss, and Waste Management Policies: A Water-Climate-Food Nexus Approach

“…An exception is highlighted in the distribution stage, where the pescatarian diet appears with a slightly lower value of the index than the vegetarian one. The results are in line with a previous degrowth assessment of the Spanish FSC [53], where a re-vegetarianization of the diets seemed to be the best pillar for achieving a spiral bioeconomy towards sustainable food production and FLW management systems. Moreover, in the literature, there are also a wide range of works concluding that "going back" to plant-based diets worldwide seems to be a reasonable alternative for a sustainable future [54].…”

The bioeconomy and its untenable growth promises: reality checks from research

“…Ollinaho and Kröger 2021; van der Ploeg 2021; Altieri and Nicholls 2020). More broadly, what deserves more serious attention within bioeconomy policy debates are the so-far scarcely discussed (Grunwald 2020;Hoehn et al 2021;Ramcilovic-Suominen 2022) implications of degrowth debates and the sophisticated critique of mainstream sustainability discourses that their proponents have developed in recent years (D'Alisa et al 2015;Hickel 2021;Kallis et al 2018). Their thorough revision of the core tenets that 'green growth' ideas rest on has begun gradually entering the bioeconomy debate not only through radically provocative work such as that of Mario Giampietro (2019), but also through sober accounts like the one by Bringezu et al (2020).…”

Implications for Sustainability of the Joint Application of Bioeconomy and Circular Economy: A Worldwide Trend Study

“…Regarding journals, Sustainability stands out for leading the ranking with a total of 291 publications, which represents 14.84% of the total scientific production. This journal presents case studies that expand the available scientific knowledge and that support the effectiveness of these terms in response to environmental and social challenges that may arise [7,41].…”

“…Actions like (1) the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [5,6]; (2) the Paris Agreement within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), effective as of November 4, 2016, to regulate the increase in global temperature [7,8]; or (3) the commitments of the European Union (EU) to achieve a climate neutral coalition by 2050, represent opportunities in the transition process towards a more sustainable economy [9,10].…”