RoadToBio | Newsletter May 2018

Welcome to the final RoadToBio newsletter

Dear Reader,

In this final newsletter we are pleased to share the brandnew RoadToBio Roadmap with you. We will introduce its various parts and show your opportunities and advantages to increase the bio-based share in the chemical production as well as barriers and actions how to overcome them.

We thank you very much four your input and contribution to the roadmap. Without your help and that of other stakeholders it would not have reached today's quality. For us it was a great journey up to here and we are very happy that you accompanied us. The project will be formally completed on 30 April 2019 and now we want to hand over the roadmap to the (chemical) industry, the BBI JU, associations, NGOs as well as many other stakeholders to inspire them to take relevant actions on the way towards a more bio-based future.

Enjoy the roadmap!

Lea König
DECHEMA e.V.
On behalf of the RoadToBio consortium

The road towards a bio-based future

RoadToBio started in May 2017 with the objective to develop a roadmap outlining a path for achieving a 25 % share of bio-based products in the EU organic chemical industry in 2030 (as compared to 10 % share in 2016). The roadmap is intended to provide an evidence-based foundation for the EU chemical industry upon which future policy can be implemented and actions developed. For this the consortium developed three different kinds of documents to offer an easy way to dive deep into the bio-based production

Action Plan summarising actions for implementing the roadmap as a first entry point to the results of RoadToBio
Strategy Document providing in-depth background information on the drive for bio-based market growth, as well as the opportunities and barriers to increasing the share of bio-based chemicals in nine product groups
Engagement Guide providing communication tools to promote bio-based chemicals and easy-to-read information on the Roadmap

Action plan

The action plan is the first entry point to the roadmap. It provides an overview of the key points of the roadmap and shows all identified barriers and recommended actions identified in the project. This way, it helps you get a quick overview of opportunities and barriers for the use of bio-based resources in the chemical industry. For nine product groups, the action plan provides:

description of current state and opportunities for bio-based products
overview scheme identifying drivers and barriers
chevron diagram showing the recommended actions for each barrier

Besides the product group specific barriers, some wider issues exist that concern the chemical industry in the bioeconomy. These are referred to as general barriers in RoadToBio. The action plan gives an overview of the crucial general barriers and provide some recommended actions to overcome these.

Strategy document

The strategy document is a comprehensive report presenting all background information on the opportunities, barriers and recommended actions that are part of the roadmap. It is the document to consult when you want to understand a particular topic in more detail. We recommend that you identify information that is relevant to you in the action plan and then dive into the corresponding chapter in the strategy document to get the full scoop. For example, if you are interested in the opportunities for bio-based adhesives, you will find a table in the strategy document describing the sustainability drivers, bio-based content and TRL level for bio-based adhesives identified during the RoadToBio project.

Engagement guide

This factsheet is part of a series of three, which together form the engagement guide:

Readers’ guide
Communication guide
Key messages

The engagement guide factsheets are designed to complement the roadmap by providing guidance on selected topics that ease the implementation of recommendations. The engagement guide factsheets will help producers to streamline their communication efforts, correctly address collaboration partners and customers, and properly promote their bio-based products. The communication guide provides recommendations on how to communicate to different target groups about bio-based products. The key messages can be customised to support communication.

The above publications, various other reports developed in preparation of the roadmap development, as well as detailed information on the project is available at roadtobio.eu

Introduction of the RoadToBio Team

The consortium of this two-year project, which started in May 2017, consists of four members:

DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V.,
BTG Biomass Technology Group BV,
E4tech (UK) Ltd.,
nova-Institut für politische und ökologische Innovation GmbH.

They bring in complementary expertise in relevant fields of the bioeconomy and chemical industry, covering in depth all aspects that need to be included in the roadmap.

This project has received funding from the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 745623.