Press release 03.03.2020
The third World BioEconomy Forum (WCBEF) will be held once again in Ruka, northern Finland September 9-11, 2020. As usual the event will gather stakeholders from the global circular bioeconomy to set an agenda for coordinated action on climate change. Already over 20 high-level speakers have now been confirmed.
Increased climate change is now recognized the world over. The Forum this year will again be highlighting the gathering proof that climate change is ramping up, with a keynote speaker, Petter Taalas, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization. In a recent interview with the WCBEF, Taalas said, “The pledges made by the countries would lead to a warming of the order of 3°C and so far, only a small fraction of those pledges have been fulfilled. If no progress is made there is a risk for 3-5°C warming by the end of this century, and if all the fossil fuels will be burned, our planet will warm by 8°C by the end of the next century.”
Forests also play a major role in the mitigation of climate change, and another keynote speaker, Mette Wilkie, Director, Forestry Policy and Resources Division, Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations, will introduce the global forest inventory report FRA2020, which will be published next summer.
The WCBEF recognises that the circular bioeconomy is a vital tool to mitigate climate change as providing alternatives for fossil-based products. The Forum will make bio-based value chain explicit for consumers. This year the forum will focus on bio-based alternatives, for instance lignin. Also, we will hear the latest developments on bio-based products by Michael Carus from nova-Institute. The Forum combines views of enterprises, institutes and regulators related to the circular bioeconomy.
In just three years the WCBEF has matured into a valuable annual event. Founder and Chairman of the Board Jukka Kantola says, “It has been a marvelous journey since 2018, when we arranged the forum for the first time. The event in Ruka has now evolved and the forum has now been clearly established as one of the global think tanks in the circular bioeconomy. With the excellent network we have and an advisory board consisting of well-known and influential stakeholders from around the world, I’m convinced that 2020 will further solidify its position as a leading platform for the circular bioeconomy.”
More information: Jukka Kantola
info@wcbef.com
+358 40 552 8880
Background
The World BioEconomy Forum (WCBEF) was born in Finland in 2018. The founders of the forum are a team of global experts – including experts in technology, marketing, stakeholder engagement and sustainability in forestry, pulp and paper industry – who realised that sustainable, circular, forestry bioeconomy is our future. In the last two years, WCBEF has been providing the global platform for Circular Bioeconomy stakeholders to get together, exchange views and come up with a joint agenda on this increasingly important topic.
