Catia Bastioli, Novamont CEO, argues that we must take more of a systematic approach to industrial policy, and take better care of our soil, the forgotten non-renewable resource.

According to the EU Environment State and Outlook 2015, Europe stands today roughly halfway between the initiation of EU environmental policy in the early 1970s and the EU’s 2050 vision set out in the 7th Environment Action Programme of ‘living well within the limits of the planet’. Underlying this vision is a recognition that Europe’s economic prosperity and wellbeing is intrinsically linked to its natural environment.

The focus of industrial policy must shift from addressing single issues to a systemic approach wherein all relevant aspects are in balance, starting with the most fundamental and least recognised of resources, soil.

Historically, many EU and member state policies towards industry, energy and resources (including waste) were juxtaposed with our ecosystem. The performance of our economies is only judged in terms of growth. This means output whose increase traditionally has required the consumption of more resources, traditionally associated with higher energy demand and production and disposal of waste. None of which sits well within the constraints of our planet’s natural resources.

Today, policy thinking is beginning to move. We have seen the introduction of strategies that have attempted to bring about a more circular approach. The EU Bioeconomy Strategy is one such strategy, and one in which I believe we have the foundations to bring about long lasting change to the way we approach development.

Over the past 20 years, continual advances in technology and agro-chemistry brought about by high-level research has demonstrated that bio-based, systems-led economies are not just fantasy. Second- and third-generation integrated biorefineries based on the proximity principle are now a reality in Europe. Using non-food crops grown on dry and marginal land and agricultural residues, these industrial facilities are able to produce a huge number of value-added products.

Sustainable production and consumption of biomass and biological resources are fundamental pillars of the bio-based economy, and underpinning this is the absolutely pivotal requirement for fertile soils.

Soil is the forgotten non-renewable resource and in fact 2015 is the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s International Year of the Soil. Soil is not just a medium in which to grow crops, it is central to the way we are able to live our lives, and it is an enormous carbon sink storing 73-79 billion tonnes of carbon in the EU-27.

It is clear we must do more to improve not just the fertility of our soils but the whole structure of soils. The recycling of organic matter from biowaste back to land is an obvious but not well recognised (in policy and economic terms) way to address this issue. At EU and local level there is plenty of successful policy to drive biowaste away from landfill. Biowaste is often burnt in incineration plants or used in anaerobic digestion to create energy through biogas and digestate.

The benefits of digestate in agriculture are limited, though; in fact, in many European countries it is technically deemed a waste. Typical applications of digestate will inevitably lead to losses of nitrogen through leaching of nitrate, and gaseous emissions of ammonium and nitrous oxide, all of which are polluting. The common-sense approach would be to add the nitrogen rich digestate to composting, where it becomes more stable and when added to soil not only has the nitrogen fertiliser benefits of the digestate but all the other benefits of compost (high phosphorous and potassium). The organic matter content of compost is also high, and the carbon is stable, thus the carbon sequestration opportunities that exist within the hundreds of millions of tonnes of biowaste are enormous.

Neither environmental policies alone nor economic and technology-driven efficiency gains are likely to be sufficient to achieve the 2050 vision. Instead, living well within ecological limits will require fundamental transitions in the systems of production and consumption.

We must start at the root of the solution and give proper protection and credit to our most valuable non-renewable resource: soil.

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