The more things change, the more they stay the same: promises of bioeconomy and the economy of promises

Abstract

This editorial lays out the core themes of the special feature and provides an overview of the contributions. It introduces the main argument, namely that the promises of far-reaching change made by recent bioeconomy policies are in fact strategically directed at avoiding transformative change to existing societal arrangements. Bioeconomy discourse showcases technological solutions purported to solve sustainability ‘problems’ while sustaining economic growth, but avoids issues of scalability, integration or negative consequences. Thus, bioeconomy policies, and particularly the latest versions of the predominantly European ‘bio-resource’ variety that have rhetorically integrated a lot of previous sustainability-minded criticism, serve to ward off or delay challenges to an unsustainable status quo, in effect prolongating the escalatory imperatives of capitalist modernity that are at the root of current crises. The editorial’s second part highlights the contributions that the 13 featured articles, based on theoretical considerations as well as policy analyses and empirical case studies from a range of countries, make to this argument.

The Role of Consumers in Business Model Innovations for a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy

“…Similar to the differentiation of sustainability concepts into a continuum between very weak and very strong sustainability (e.g., [88,92]), BE approaches and visions range from substitution and green growth narratives following the rationale of neoclassical economics to a comprehensive ecological and evolutionary economy in the sense of Georgescu-Roegen's bioeconomics [16,69,[93][94][95][96]. Although the notion of a CBE aims for economic processes more in line with the laws of thermodynamics, the CBE also runs the risk of being "hijacked" or misappropriated to fit the logics of what Joly has called the economics of techno-scientific promises [16,30,89,97].…”

“…Another study conducted by De Keyser and Mathijs [140] mentions examples of circular BMI that could be achieved in a BE context with relatively little investment, such as waste conversion into biogas or biofertilizers. Nevertheless, circular BMI may face (at least) three recurring issues or obstacles: the lack of resources, both in terms of skills and materials [139]; the requirement of a radical transformation in the core values and attitudes of the company, which not everyone within the organization may be willing to follow (due to various reasons or "field forces" [141]), potentially resulting in a refusal to change [142]; stakeholder opposition in the sense of "regime resistance" [143] or due to the dominance of unsustainable attitudes such as climate change skepticism (e.g., [144], on a related note) or the belief in the economics of techno-scientific promises [89,97] in the wider population.…”

Investigating published research towards a fossil-energy-free agriculture transformation

“…However, in the agricultural sector there is still a signi cant gap between such developments and the actual adoption and use of the available tools and practices by the EU farmers. The defossilisation of agriculture is not merely a technological challenge (Eversberg et al 2023). It is a complex process that entails a transition towards a more sustainable socio-technical system, for which social and technical transformations need to take place in a co-evolutionary manner.…”

Democratization through precision technologies? Unveiling power, participation, and property rights in the agricultural bioeconomy

“…To achieve this, they rely on economic growth and increased biomass production through high-tech innovations. This direction has sparked important critique of the environmental and social sustainability of such projects (Boyer et al, 2022;Eversberg et al, 2023). However, little attention has been paid in the bioeconomy literature to the political dimension surrounding key precision technologies-such as data-driven precision agriculture (PA) or precision breeding technologies using new genomic techniques (NGT).…”