WWF Report: Biotechnology Could Help Cut CO2 Emissions Significantly By 2030

On September 17, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released a new report detailing the significant potential for current and emerging industrial biotechnologies to significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and beyond. The report identifies four broad areas in which cross-cutting biotechnologies could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1.0 to 2.5 billion metric tons per year CO2-equivalent by 2030 (more than Germany emitted in 1990):

• Improving industrial efficiency in processes and materials across industries
• Substituting biofuels for fossil fuels
• Substituting bio-based products for fossil fuel-based products
• Eliminating waste through waste reprocessing

However, industrial biotechnology will not fulfill this potential automatically. New markets, policies, standards, and technologies still need to be developed, disseminated, and deployed. “Low carbon biotech solutions are a good example of hidden or invisible climate solutions that are all around us already today but are easy to overlook for policymakers, investors and companies,” says John Kornerup Bang, Head of Globalization Program at WWF Denmark and coauthor of the report.