Models for analysing the dependencies between indicators for bioeconomy in the European Union

Abstract

In the past decade, bioeconomy has become a main field of interest, especially in terms of innovation, as it was often considered a potential solution to several global sustainability issues, such as environmental challenges. Through the conversion of biomass into value-added products for a full reintegration of used renewable biological resources, this sector has played a significant role in the efforts to transfer from petroleum-based economies to bio-based economies. The present article has the objective of developing panel regression models for determining the dependency between some of the main indicators of the bioeconomy development and sustainability for the European Union in the period 2008–2013. One main interesting finding of the study emphasised that higher gas emissions from agriculture are associated positively with higher turnover in the bioeconomy, implying the fact that the development of the bioeconomy is surprisingly not necessarily associated with sustainability. The relevance of the present study lies in the novelty of the subject, as bioeconomy was mainly researched in terms of theoretical knowledge, but less in terms of statistical analysis. Thus, the article offers a comprehensive research regarding the connection of the bioeconomy quantifying indicators and other selected economic influence factors of the European Union.