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The bioeconomy in Germany: A failing political project?

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  • Lühmann, Malte
  • Vogelpohl, Thomas

Abstract

Almost two decades ago, the OECD and the EU kickstarted the development of bioeconomy strategies. In Germany, like in many other countries, policy development gained momentum in the 2010s, resulting in three consecutive policy strategies to date. And yet the bioeconomy concept remains largely unknown to a wider public and there are hardly any tangible outcomes in terms of transforming the economy towards sustainability as proposed in these strategies. Against this background, the German bioeconomy is characterized in this article as a political project aiming at a technological fix to problems like supply security and climate change in order to stabilize the social order of neoliberalized capitalism. Evaluating the different dimensions of the project's characteristics as well as its impacts, however, we find that the bioeconomy neither succeeds in universalizing its ideas and attracting a broader range of societal actors to them, nor in delivering the promised pathway to a socio-ecological transformation. Still, the analysis also reveals successes of certain actors in securing funds and advancing their agendas related to the bioeconomy. It can be argued that the bioeconomy succeeded in this way in stabilizing the existing unsustainable social order.

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  • Lühmann, Malte & Vogelpohl, Thomas, 2023. "The bioeconomy in Germany: A failing political project?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:207:y:2023:i:c:s0921800923000460
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107783
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    2. Wilde, Kerstin & Hermans, Frans, 2024. "Transition towards a bioeconomy: Comparison of conditions and institutional work in selected industries," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 50, pages 1-1.
    3. Christina-Ioanna Papadopoulou & Fotios Chatzitheodoridis & Efstratios Loizou & Piotr Jurga, 2024. "Operational taxonomy of farmers' towards circular bioeconomy in regional level," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1-27, June.
    4. Florian Siekmann & Sandra Venghaus, 2024. "Regional transformation pathways for the bioeconomy: A novel monitoring approach for complex transitions," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(3), pages 603-616, June.

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