Comprehensive overview of existing regulatory and voluntary frameworks on sustainability assessment

Open Access

Abstract

The transition to a bioeconomy (BE) offers great chances with respect to a more sustainable economy, in which products are produced mostly from renewable resources in a socially,economically and environmentally acceptable way, overcoming typical problems caused by the economic development. Nevertheless, there are also high risks for people and the planet in line with the advancement of this development. These risks must be minimized today by policies in order to avoid an erroneous trend. This deliverable seeks to show potential policy gaps with regard to the establishment of a sustainable BE and to develop recommendations to bridge these gaps based on STAR ProBio results. Therefore policies, strategies and legislative documents from EU member states and the European Union, potentially affecting or promoting sustainability assessment and certification were investigated. Furthermore, results of ongoing and finalized projects within the research area were incorporated in this task and a mapping of the SDGs with the results of the analysis of policy documents was conducted in order to assess links between the SDGs and sustainability requirements given in the policy documents of the analysed sample. Finally, at a workshop with project partners, sustainability risk levels, subjected to BE sectors, were developed. The investigation showed, that currently, no coherent and comprehensive framework does exist for the EU BE. Instead, many different types of policies with different scope and degree of detail are available. There is a lack of measurable targets within the policies. Certification was found to be an accepted instrument for the assessment of sustainability. The focus of requirements included in the policy framework is on the environmental sustainability, while economic and social aspects are less represented. To address minimum sustainability requirements in certain sectors or markets, politics started to make use of established and proven criteria sets (e.g. FSC®/PEFC schemes, RED criteria). ; Project ...