Understanding the bioeconomy through its instruments: standardizing sustainability, neoliberalizing bioeconomies?

A global analysis of bioeconomy visions in governmental bioeconomy strategies

Against the background of climate change and scarce non-renewable resources, transforming the fossil-based toward a bio-based economy is considered crucial for sustainable development. Numerous countries have released governmental strategies outlining their bioeconomy visions. This study examines the bioeconomy visions presented in 78 policy documents from 50 countries worldwide, building on earlier vision typologies. Through qualitative content analysis, 227 distinct policy goals were identified and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the salience of specific goals, overarching goal categories, and distinct bioeconomy visions: bioresource, biotechnology, and bioecology visions. The results reveal that goals and visions prioritize economic growth, while environmental considerations are less salient. The bioresource vision emerges as the globally dominant perspective, while the bioecology and biotechnology visions have lower salience. These findings deepen our comprehension of current bioeconomy policies and emphasize the need for critical research on bioeconomy visions and their implications for public policy.