Europeans show strong support for post-oil bioeconomy - survey

EPOBIO is an international project funded through the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to realise the economic potential of plant-derived raw materials. The EPOBIO objectives, implemented by a consortium of top EU and US researchers, are to design new generations of bio-based products derived from non-food plants - from bioplastics to biofuels - that will reach the market place 10-15 years from now.

At the 2nd EPOBIO Workshop titled "Products from Plants – from crops and forests to zero-waste biorefineries" that was held earlier this month in Athens, Greece, a session was devoted to the presentation of a detailed survey on Europeans' Social Attitudes and Expectations [*.pdf] of the emerging bioeconomy.

EPOBIO's Social Attitudes and Expectations Support Package has succeeded, via means of empirical social research, in mapping a sample of European countries according to their citizens’ views on the industrial uses of plants and the forthcoming introduction of bio-based products into the market. The findings provide information about the broad picture of public perception in Europe as well as about the special characteristics of target populations defined by their national or socio-demographic profile.

The survey, based on national representative samples of seven EU member states (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.) found strong support amongst the European public as a whole to make the transition towards a bio-based economy:

• Europeans are not techno-phobic. Across all European countries surveyed there is an overwhelming recognition of the positive impact of technology as well as positive overall feelings about the products and projects identified by EPOBIO.
• The attitudes of Europeans towards plant-derived engine oils, products made from alternative sources of rubber and biorefineries are positive. More than two out of three declare their willingness to replace conventional commodities with plant made ones, even if they incurred some extra cost, with the highest percentage of support being recorded for bio-plastics. In addition, around four in six Europeans would be in favour of giving the Flagship areas incentives to support development; this necessity, however, is felt more strongly for engine oils made from plants.
• Regarding the special issues involved in industrial plant exploitation, i.e. genetic engineering, energy production by combustion of plant-made products and the usage of food crops in industry, more than half of Europeans would approve of them providing that they are tightly regulated and controlled. For genetic engineering a considerable proportion of one in four indicate disapproval. Furthermore, when genetic engineering is excluded, those viewing the special issues as not being associated with risk, as useful and morally acceptable outnumber those who view them as being risky, not useful and morally unacceptable.
• There is a clear support for decisions to be taken at the European level in all countries except for the UK, where almost half of respondents express their preference for decisions to be taken the national level.

The survey provides data that will be used to create an effective communication strategy on the bioeconomy. For this reason, it also identified the special characteristics of different segments of the population. The particular views of target populations which are identified by their socio-demographic characteristics and nationality were found to be the following:
energy :: sustainability :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: bio-materials :: bioproducts :: biorefinery :: bioeconomy :: EU ::

• Considerable variation is observed across the European countries with regard to their awareness of the industrial uses of plants and the proposed projects, with Spain, Germany and Sweden recording the highest levels of awareness and Italy, France and Greece recording the lowest.
• Italians and Greeks rank lowest for their willingness to change
• Italians and Greeks rank lowest for their willingness to change their purchasing habits but they rank highest for their position in favour of governmental support. Interestingly, this pattern reverses when it comes to Spaniards and Swedes, while the British rank among the highest in both items ‘willingness to buy the product’ and ‘governmental support’.
• The socio-demographic breakdown of results reveals some interesting differences: (1) males, urban dwellers, highly educated and those aged 35-54 are more optimistic about the recent impact of technology, more knowledgeable about the industrial uses of plants, more willing to buy the novel products proposed and more likely to support their development; (2) as the level of attentiveness to science issues increases, so does the level of knowledge of the industrial uses of plants: (3) familiarity with general and issue specific technological matters has a positive influence over the acceptability of the proposed projects.

From a science communication perspective further issues were considered. The EPOBIO survey findings provide some additional information to help communicators to make decisions on issues such as what kind of messages will be more successful in motivating public support, which actors are more likely to be believed by the public and which channels of mass communication will be more effective in disseminating the relevant information. Hence, the following should be noted:

• The most persuasive reasons for the European support of the EPOBIO proposed projects and products relate to their environmental benefits and the reduced dependency on petroleum, with the former being most popular for Spaniards, Swedes and Germans and the latter for Italians, Greeks and the French. From a socio-demographic perspective: (1) environmental incentives are most popular for women, urban dwellers, highly educated and those aged between 35-55 years; (2) the incentive of reduced dependency on petroleum is most popular for men, urban dwellers and highly educated; (3) the creation of new jobs is most popular for men, rural dwellers, those who completed lower levels of education and those younger than 35 years.
• Regarding the perceived trustworthiness of the actors who are expected to play a role in public debates on the industrial uses of plants, about four in five Europeans trust scientists and environmental organizations, while less than one in four trust politicians and the industrial sector. International organizations and E.U. bodies are trusted by more than half of Europeans.
• Media coverage on the industrial uses of crop plants is predominantly positive in Europe. The newspapers and television are the most effective media for the dissemination of relevant news, whilst scientific journals and the internet are less effective. Journalists, however, seem to lack in public trust, with less than two in five Europeans trusting them.

The broad picture of Europe as portrayed in the survey suggests that its citizens will welcome the introduction of the novel plant-derived products. The variation identified with reference to the national and socio-demographic characteristics recommends the development of diverse communication approaches tailored to the particularities of specific target groups. The challenges for science communicators and decision makers are to ensure that the benefits offered by those technologies are widely understood and that the public are able to follow the pace of technological innovation.

Taking the findings into account, the report based on the survey stressed the need to:

• Develop an integrated communication strategy aiming at intensifying media coverage.
• Raise public interest and stimulate public participation.
• Enhance the role of EU authorities in decision-making processes.
• Make the view-points of scientists clear in public debates.
• Improve the corporate profile of the industrial sector.
• Assure transparency of the processes involved.

Finally, it is recommended that continuous social research by quantitative and qualitative means is vital in order to explore further issues of public perception and to attain a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms which operate in project evaluation and consumer decision-making processes.

More information:
EPOBIO website.

2nd EPOBIO Workshop: Products from Plants – from crops and forests to zero-waste biorefineries, 15-17 May 2007, Athens, Greece

EPOBIO Support Theme: Social Attitudes and Expectations: Public attitudes towards the industrial uses of plants: the EPOBIO survey [*.pdf]- Athens, Greece, May 15-17, 2007.