GHG emission reductions with industrial biotechnology: assessing the opportunities
The report underscores the need for strong public policies to help realize the potential of industrial biotech and recommends initiatives such as pollution costs charged to petrol-based materials, investment in advanced waste management technologies, and labeling systems for bio-based products. The report also outlines four primary areas in which industrial biotechnology can provide significant emission cuts. As an example, replacing fossil fuels with biofuels in the transportation sector can save an estimated 1,024 million tons of CO2 emissions. Another 668 tons can be saved by building a new infrastructure that replaces fossil materials with biomass in the development of products from plastics to diapers. The report also finds that by reusing waste material as feedstock for the production of energy and materials saves another 633 million tons of CO2, and by boosting industrial biotech to provide reductions in the use of energy and raw materials across industries can save another 204 million tons of CO2 emissions.