The 13th OECD Rural Development Conference was held in Cavan, Ireland on 28-30 September 2022 under the theme "Building Sustainable, Resilient and Thriving Rural Places". These are the presentations from the Conference parallel session "The Rural Agenda for Climate Action: Leveraging Climate and Circular BioEconomy Opportunities in Rural Areas". For more information visit https://www.oecd.org/rural/rural-development-conference/.

1. The Rural Agenda for Climate Action:
Leveraging Climate and Circular Bio-
Economy Opportunities in Rural Areas
Philipp Grundmann, Muluken Adamseged
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Technology and Bioeconomy
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 862674

2. Outline
1. Motivation
2. Visions on bioeconomy development
3. Businesses and business environments dependences
4. Performance of businesses in rural areas in Europe
5. Grass-based business innovations in GO-GRASS
6. Expectations of supportive business environments
7. Lessons learned and recommendations for bioeconomy and
climate actions
2
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3. Motivation
Main action areas (OECD,
2021):
improving the evidence base
at the regional and local level;
building local capacity;
fostering renewable energy;
promoting sustainable land
management and higher
valorization of ecosystem
services;
accelerating the circular and
bio-economy; and
decarbonizing transport.
Risks of policy fragmentation and
sub-optimal outcomes - climate
change policies are often spatially
blind, targeted to specific sectors
or apply uniformly within countries.
Ineffective use of public funds and
trade-offs between climate change
mitigation and other policy goals.
2022-09-28
Source:
Jander
(2022)

4. Visions of bioeconomy transitions
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Transition type Transition from a fossil-
based to a bio-based
economy
Bioeconomy transition securing
economic growth
Ecological bioeconomy transition
Main goal / rational Reduce fossil resources
dependence
Economic prosperity Stay within ecological boundaries
Guiding principle Substitution Innovation/Efficiency/Productivity
Pushing the boundaries
Sufficiency
Economic paradigm Economic growth/avoid
stagnation
Investing in technologies
Economic growth Degrowth
Views on the
bioeconomy
Promising strategy to transform the economy, based on innovation in life
sciences
Potentially problematic, may threaten
food security and biodiversity; influence
of big companies
Biosphere Considered to some extent
(climate change and pollution)
Not primarily considered Economic system is part of ecosystem
Attitudes towards risks Risks are inevitable and should be managed Risks should be avoided
Bioeconomy policy
advice
Create an enabling environment for bioeconomy innovation Make sure that the bioeconomy is
strictly regulated
Related concepts and
visions in the literature
Life sciences vision, Bio-
resource vision,
Transformation-centered
vision, Fossil fuel substitution,
Biomass-based economy,
Biomass-centric
Life sciences vision, Biotechnology-centered
vision, Capitalist growth, Science-based
bioeconomy, Techno-centric, Boosting
primary sector productivity, New & more
efficient biomass uses, Low-bulk & high-
value applications
Agro-ecology vision, Bio-ecology vision,
Sufficiency, Considering the limits of
the biosphere, Degrowth
conceptualisation, Eco-centric
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Source: Adapted from Jander (2022)

5. Businesses and business environments dependences
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Source: Adapted from Adamseged and Grundmann (2021)

6. Business case examples from Europe
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Source: RUBIZMO (2021)

7. Performance of businesses in rural areas (self-evaluation)
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Category
Subcategory
Income
Return
Turnover
per
employ.
Locality
Innovation
Employment
Rural
employees
Youth
employment
Gender
International
Disabilities
Local
society
Water
reduction
Energy
reduction
Fossils
substitution
Circular
economy
GHG
Land
use
Soil
protection
Biodiversity
Biobased
production
Organic
production
Farm
Circular solutions
Farm connected
activities
Agricultural
production
Processing of own
products
Business
linked
to
farm
Inputs for farming
Circular solutions
Facilitation of farm
activities
Technologies and
R&D
Processing of
farming inputs
Focus
on
society
and
environment
Maintenance and
revival
Tourism and
culture
Social issues
Funding and
facilitating
Very good
performance
Average or weak
performance
Very weak performance
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Source: Adapted from
Viaggi et al (2019)

8. Lessons learned
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Need for convergence of bioeconomy
and socio-ecological (climate) actions
Source: Adapted from Bröhring et al (2020)

9. Business environment support for grass-based
businesses
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Source: Orozco et al (2021)
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10. Expectations of supportive business environments
Strategies
Include needs of emerging businesses in R&D
strategies.
Ensure supportive infrastructural conditions.
Develop sector specific funding schemes.
Adapt funding to phases of business development.
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Cooperation
Strengthen partnerships for know-how and funding.
Share resources and infrastructure.
Foment exchange between policy makers, public
agents, businesses and other stakeholders.
Empower networks, clusters, associations at levels.
Processes
Coordinate procedures among agencies at all levels.
Communicate research outputs to potential users
and agencies.
Give guidance for application and access to funding.
Make application processes more transparent.
Governance structures
Support hotspots and shared governance structures.
Provide transparent rules and regulations.
Create sufficient capacities to apply rules efficiently.
Meet specific education and training needs through a
networked, cooperative approach.
Learning and innovation
Create awareness for products and services among public agencies, media and consumers.
Exchange know-how with businesses and consumers from different contexts and regions.
Facilitate participation in R&D project activities.
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Source: Adapted from Adamseged and Grundmann (2021)

11. 11
Recommendations:
Reconciliation of climate action and the
bioeconomy development.
Convergence beyond technology fields and
disciplines.
Facilitation of social innovations and
institutional changes in rural area activity.
Alignment of strategies, processes,
governance, cooperation and learning
structures of businesses and business
environments as key requirement.
Development of bioeconomy sector specific
capacities for businesses channeled
through networks, cluster, etc.
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Factors supporting change in actors decision making
for climate action in rural areas

12. Thank you!
12
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 862674