RUNNING PROJECT

Title
PhD-student: Sebastian Olnyi, MSc, Tel: +31 (0)15 27 89308 e-mail s.olenyi@tudelft.nl Promotor: Prof. Patricia Osseweijer Supervisor: Dr. Robin Pierce Institute: Delft University of Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Biotechnology and Society group Project term: December 2010 December 2014 Financed by: BE Basic: Bio-Based, Ecologically Balanced Sustainable Chemical Industry Description Qualitative and quantitative analysis of public opinions and criteria for sustainable bioproducts

A project to evaluate consumer, industry and stakeholder knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, information sources and buying behavior towards sustainable food and biomass products.
Sustainability as term was especially put on the agenda with and after the Brundtland report. Sustainable development was defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The encyclopedia Britannica defines it as relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. These rather philosophical definitions are enriched with about 200 other scientific or stakeholder definitions of the term taking into consideration social, economic and environmental aspects. This concept however is already put into practice: The KnowledgeBased Bio-Economy as transforming life sciences knowledge into () sustainable products and sustainability evaluations on such criteria as Carbon Footprint, energy needs, water usage, Fairtrade are just some examples where the sustainability concept is gaining pace. Countless labels, prices and criteria for sustainability and sustainable products exist. The Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels, EU Organic are just some of the certification schemes trying to get suppliers and customers trust and attention. Behind them: NGOs, governments, a whole label industry developing. Moreover, big retail and food production players come up with their own sustainability criteria and reporting schemes. Some of them are greenwashing, all of them could be seen as in some way incomplete, also because there exists confusion about what sustainability really means. And sustainability information is in a lot of cases very abstract and dispersed only in the scientific and retailer worlds. Integration of this information into daily life and the knowledge which kind of information and criteria should be prioritized remains sparse. Combining with a transdisciplinary approach linking social, communication, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability, this project analyses sustainability knowledge, criteria and the attitudes and priorities towards them. It aims to clarify unfunded assumptions that influence the innovation chain. This shall allow labels, retailers, companies and politicians to re-adjust their priorities, communication and engagement for sustainability and to learn more about sustainability aspects.

The project is funded and placed within the BE Basic program 9.1 and is accompanied by a blog (www.biosustainable.net) and a Twitter account (www.twitter.com/biosustainable). PICTURE:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Sustainable_development.svg/ 640px-Sustainable_development.svg.png Picture by Johann Dro, published on Wikipedia under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0. References

Marshall, J. D., & Toffel, M. W. (2005). Framing the Elusive Concept of Sustainability: A Sustainability Hierarchy. Environmental Science & Technology, 39(3), 673-682. American Chemical Society. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es040394k . Kates, R., Parris, T., & Leiserowitz, A. (2005). What is sustainable development? Environment, 47(3), 8 - 21. Retrieved January 6, 2011, from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sustsci/ists/docs/whatisSD_env_kates_0504.pdf. Barr, S. (2003). Strategies for sustainability: citizens and responsible environmental behaviour. Area, 35(3), 227-240. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/14754762.00172. Vermeir, I., & Verbeke, W. (2006). Sustainable Food Consumption: Exploring the Consumer Attitude Behavioral Intention Gap. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 19(2), 169-194. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10806-005-5485-3. Saunders, C., Guenther, M., Kaye-Blake, W., Mili, S., & Tait, P. (2010). Consumer attitudes towards sustainability attributes on food labels. Nelson, New Zealand: NZARES Conference. Retrieved from http://purl.umn.edu/96944.