The bioeconomy is steadily becoming more important in regional, national and European public policies. As it encompasses the transformation of agricultural, marine and organic resources into food, feed, fuels, energy and materials, the bioeconomy should become a major new industry, outlining the possibility of a post-fossil future. This book is the first attempt to depict the origins, formation and challenges of this new industry in terms of emerging institutions, innovation and economic strategies. The result of this work is that the substitution of raw materials alone is not enough to get out of the fossil economy. This book develops a political economy of the ecological transition which theorizes the transition as a new crisis of capitalism. This phase is characterized by stakeholders' attempts to develop renewed rationales and strategies to take control of the reorganization of flows of natural resources, their outcomes and their evaluation. The proposed framework considers recent results in four complementary research strands: transition studies, institutional economics, ecological economics and the evolutionary economics of innovation. The book will be of interest to researchers interested in the development of the bioeconomy, and both researchers and students seeking to understand the role of heterodox economics in the ecological transition.

Interest in issues surrounding sustainable production-consumption systems and alternatives to fossil fuels is booming. The circular bioeconomy is currently mainstreamed in policy-making, industry and academia as an important part of the solution to the climate crisis and towards the creation of more sustainable economies. Based on the University-level teaching and research experience of the four authors in Italy, Finland, and France, this textbook fills an important gap in the literature by providing an in-depth and unique guide to the circular bioeconomy. The chapters critically discuss the potential contribution of a circular bioeconomy to fostering societal and organizational transformations towards sustainability globally. This timely book joins a suite of important new titles on sustainability, environmental and ecological economics.

Interest in issues surrounding sustainable production-consumption systems and alternatives to fossil fuels is booming. The circular bioeconomy is currently mainstreamed in policy-making, industry and academia as an important part of the solution to the climate crisis and towards the creation of more sustainable economies. Based on the University-level teaching and research experience of the four authors in Italy, Finland, and France, this textbook fills an important gap in the literature by providing an in-depth and unique guide to the circular bioeconomy. The chapters critically discuss the potential contribution of a circular bioeconomy to fostering societal and organizational transformations towards sustainability globally. This timely book joins a suite of important new titles on sustainability, environmental and ecological economics.