An economic perspective of the circular bioeconomy in the food and agricultural sector

Khanna, Madhu; Zilberman, David; Hochman, Gal; Basso, Bruno

doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01663-6

Title: An economic perspective of the circular bioeconomy in the food and agricultural sector

Journal Article · 02 October 2024 · Communications Earth & Environment

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01663-6 · OSTI ID:2454969

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University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); CABBI
University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (United States)

Transforming the agri-food system from a “take-make-waste”, or linear production system, to a circular bioeconomy that reduces, recycles, recovers, reuses, and regenerates wastes and transitions from fossil to biobased fuels and products is being hailed as critical for meeting a growing population’s food and fuel needs in environmentally sustainable ways. While a transformation towards a circular bioeconomy is an appealing strategy to achieve multiple environmental goals, we argue that this strategy needs to go beyond a techno-centric focus and adopt an economic value-based lens to balance the desire for circularity with its costs, benefits, and distributional effects on society. This perspective analyzes the mechanisms that sustain the existing linear economy and proposes a novel social cost-benefit framework to determine the optimal level and path to circularity. We present five critical pathways to achieve a sustainable circular bioeconomy in a market economy consisting of decentralized decision-makers.

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Research Organization:: Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Urbana, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0018409; SC0018420

OSTI ID:: 2454969

Journal Information:: Communications Earth & Environment, Journal Name: Communications Earth & Environment Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 5; ISSN 2662-4435

Publisher:: Springer NatureCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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