This Staff Working Document provides a review of the European Commission(EC) 2012 Bioeconomy Strategy and Action Plan “Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe”. This review does not constitute a formal evaluation as defined by the Commission Better Regulation guidelines and consequently the approach followed differed from established evaluation practices and requirements.
The strategy defined the bioeconomy as “the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into valueadded products, such as food, feed, bio-based products as well as bio-energy”. The major aim of the strategy, therefore, was “to pave the way to a more innovative, resource efficient and competitive society that reconciles food
security with the sustainable use of biotic renewable resources for industrial
purposes, while ensuring environmental protection”.