Sustainability Transition Towards a Bio-Based Economy: New Technologies, New Products, New Policies

Dear Colleagues,

Significant changes are expected to occur in the near future. Most notably, the world’s population which stands at 7.5 billion in mid-2017 is projected to increase by almost one billion people within the next decade, and to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. At the same time, large and fast-growing economies will experience increasing wealth. The composition of the global population will therefore change significantly (Morone, 2016). Over the next 15 years, the number of people considered to be part of the global middle class is projected to nearly double, increasing from 3.2 billion in 2016 to more than 5.2 billion by 2030 and the bulk of this growth will come from developing countries—with the vast majority (88 percent) of the next billion people in the middle class being Asian (Kharas, 2017)

A major effect of these trends is higher consumption and demand for food, consumer durables, and energy sources, as well as services including tourism, entertainment, and transport. All this adds pressure to the incumbent socio-technological regime (fossil-based) and calls for a transition towards a more sustainable one (bio-based).

Among others, key drivers of this transition are:

• development and diffusion of new green technologies (eco-innovations) for a bio-based economy;
• development of a holistic approach for sustainability assessment of bio-based products (e.g., sustainability schemes, standards and eco-labelling initiatives)
• policy measures for promoting market uptake of bio-based products and creating a level playing field among different bio-based products and fossil-based alternatives;

The objective of this Special Issue is to bring together cutting-edge studies on the role of these three drivers in making the transition toward a sustainable economy. Specifically, this Special Issue invites theoretical and empirical studies addressing one or more of these drivers, although other relevant and related topics will also be considered.

Prof. Piergiuseppe Morone
Guest Editor

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