Rising greenhouse gas emissions embodied in the global bioeconomy supply chain
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Date
2025-03-01
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Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
The bioeconomy is key to meeting climate targets. Here, we examine greenhouse gas emissions in the global bioeconomy supply chain (1995-2022) using advanced multi-regional input-output analysis and a global land-use change model. Considering agriculture, forestry, land use, and energy, we assess the carbon footprint of biomass production and examine its end-use by provisioning systems. The footprint increased by 3.3 Gt CO2-eq, with 80% driven by international trade, mainly beef and biochemicals (biofuels, bioplastics, rubber). Biochemicals showed the largest relative increase, doubling due to tropical land-use change (feedstock cultivation) and China's energy-intensive processing. Food from retail contributes most to the total biomass carbon footprint, while food from restaurants and canteens account for >50% of carbon-footprint growth, with three times higher carbon intensity than retail. Our findings emphasize the need for sustainable sourcing strategies and that adopting renewables and halting land-use change could reduce the bioeconomy carbon footprint by almost 60%.
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published
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6 (1)
Pages / Article No.
172
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03732 - Hellweg, Stefanie / Hellweg, Stefanie