SYSTEMIQ set up the Seaweed for Europe coalition in June 2020 to advance and scale a sustainable and innovative seaweed industry in Europe. Packaging Europe takes an in-depth look at the sustainability potential a growing seaweed industry could have for the packaging industry and beyond.
EXPLORING THE SUSTAINABILITY POTENTIAL OF SEAWEED
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he coalition has three main objectives. Firstly, the aim is to drive systematic innovation and best practice sharing, as Adrien Vincent, programme director at Seaweed for Europe, points out. “We take a value chain approach to understanding specific research and technology needs which will propel the industry towards growth. The coalition aims to determine specific intervention points within the value chain where innovation is essential, for example to bring down price points to make products competitive. We also foster knowledge exchange and best practice sharing between our members.” The second goal is to mobilize investment and to get policy makers on board. “We connect innovative industry players with investors who are interested in contributing to the development of a sustainable ocean economy, to help them understand their respective needs and create new opportunities for investment. We also engage with policy makers to create the right conditions to make investments more attractive in the seaweed space.” Thirdly, Seaweed for Europe engages with high-level decision makers to elevate the profile of seaweed and create awareness of its potential and the importance of pursuing this opportunity to protect human and planetary boundaries. “Today, the coalition is comprised of 46 members from 12 European countries. They constitute a balanced portfolio of members, representing seaweed farmers, harvesters, processors, technology providers, investors, incubators, think tanks, NGOs and research institutions.”
“However, at the same time the industry is still struggling to grow, despite an increasing demand for seaweed and seaweed-based products, in particular in the human consumption space. This is due to the fragmented European seaweed landscape, with stakeholders failing to pool together their know-how and experiences to drive growth jointly. In addition, there is also a lack of investment and policy support as the significant potential of seaweed is overlooked or not understood. Seaweed for Europe aims to address that,” Mr Vincent adds.
Why seaweed? The seaweed industry in Europe represents a remarkable economic, social and environmental opportunity. A recently published report by Seaweed for Europe, anticipating the potential scope of the European seaweed industry in 2030, says that the industry “has the potential to be worth up to €9.3 billion. Under the right conditions, European producers could capture around one-third of this market (€2.7 billion), generating 115,000 jobs. In addition, seaweed could mitigate up to 5.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, remove thousands of tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus each year from eutrophied European coastal waters, contribute to preserving biodiversity, and help protect European coasts from erosion.”
Scaling up Discussing this topic with several innovative players in Europe, Seaweed for Europe realized many of the conditions required to really scale up seaweed in Europe are already given, such as biological conditions for the water, favourable political support with the European Green Deal, and mushrooming of ventures in the field. Packaging Europe | 21 |
