Biosolutions: A clear path to fighting climate change
Biotechnology can provide powerful biosolutions to address many of the climate change issues we face. Image: Unsplash/RAEng
Listen to the article
- Biotechnology provides powerful solutions to many of today’s climate, health and sustainability challenges, but implementing them comes with its own set of issues.
- Transformative biosolutions face long approval processes before they can be released on the market, making the development of new and more sustainable products less attractive.
- Legislators, regulators and industry must partner to adopt a new generation of biotech solutions, while business leaders and governments must collaborate.
We live in a dynamic and rapidly changing world. There are many challenges to solve – feeding growing populations, mitigating climate change and getting more out of our shared resources. The war in Ukraine and subsequent shortage of wheat, corn and fertilizer ingredients have made the severity of these challenges even more evident, affecting the supply of food and energy on a global scale. Now more than ever, we need answers to the world’s climate, health and sustainability challenges.
Biotechnology can provide powerful biosolutions to address these issues. Imagine if we could replace the use of harmful chemicals for crop protection in our food production with biological alternatives that do not harm biodiversity. Or if we could use biology to reduce the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and turn it into valuable raw materials to reduce the industry’s reliance on fossil fuels. Or if alternative proteins could replace animal proteins, significantly reducing climate impact and land use.
Yet, implementing these solutions comes with its own set of issues. Regulatory frameworks and approval processes need to catch up with the new biological possibilities – and we are in a hurry.
Transformative biosolutions: mitigating climate change
While the technology to achieve and realize these critical benefits exists, transformative biosolutions face long approval processes before they can be released on the market. As a result, developing new and more sustainable products becomes less attractive. For example, biobased solutions, like those enabling sustainable crop cultivation, currently take approximately seven years to be approved under the current EU system, while it only takes approximately two years in the US. To incentivize the shift, we need fast-track approval processes for biosolutions that contribute to the green transformation.
The global biotech industry is committed to accelerating the journey toward climate-neutrality and, today, tremendous strides are being made towards harnessing the powers of biology to create sustainable solutions.
In the crop protection industry, companies are working towards replacing chemical insecticides and fossil-based pesticides with biological components such as microorganisms and naturally occurring peptides. The building industry is producing bio-cement, with microorganisms as a key ingredient, to create a more sustainable alternative to traditional cement production. And companies are looking to transform food systems with plant-based solutions using fermented proteins and microorganisms. Although these new biosolutions, along with other biology-based solutions, seem very promising, the development and implementation of these new solutions must be accelerated if they are to have an impact in the near future.
What is the World Economic Forum doing to help ensure global food security?
At the Novo Nordisk Foundation and our investment company, Novo Holdings, we have embarked on a journey to make biotechnology a spearhead for the green transformation of industry and agriculture. We do so by supporting the entire value chain of innovation, from scientific research to the commercialization of novel solutions and products.
One example of how the Foundation contributes to reaching this ambitious goal is the establishment of the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Research Center — the world’s first interdisciplinary and international research centre dedicated to developing knowledge and technology for CO2 capture and recycling.
At Novozymes, we bring technology into action through our biosolutions, such as enzymes, microorganisms, advanced protein and yeast, which are used in more than 30 different industries. In the transport sector alone, Novozymes’ technologies contribute to avoiding almost 50 million tons of CO2 by enabling low carbon solutions. But the potential is much bigger than that. And we have the solutions to address these needs across the board.
Science and biotechnology are among the most important drivers of the sustainable transformation of our societies. For the transformation to happen, legislators/regulators and the industry need to work in partnership to adapt to a new generation of biosolutions. Business and governments must be ambitious and work together to find the best solutions for our shared future.
Together – science, technology, business, and government – we are stronger, faster, and more successful.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Stay up to date:
Climate Crisis
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Food and WaterSee all
Gill Einhorn
December 5, 2024