Sustaining the European Bioeconomy: The Material Base and Extractive Relations of a Bio-Based EU-Economy
Malte Lühmann
Abstract
Abstract This chapter explores the implications of a growing need for biomass inputs for the transnational relations of the European bioeconomy. In order to do so, transnational material flows into the European bioeconomy are analysed from a world systems perspective. This puts the European bioeconomy in relation to extractive economies mainly in the (semi-)peripheries of the capitalist world system. Most of the biomass consumed in the EU today is produced domestically, but imports represent 16% of total supply. Material flows in the form of commodity imports to the EU are analysed as extractive relations between the EU and its biomass suppliers. As the potential for increased domestic production in the EU is small, biomass imports are expected to become even more important in the context of a growing bioeconomy. The extractive relations constituted by existing material flows call into question the social and ecological sustainability of bioeconomy transition.