Towards Sustainable Global Food and Biomass Systems

Summary

Achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while addressing the challenge of feeding a growing global population in a sustainable and inclusive manner requires a comprehensive transformation of our food system and the broader bioeconomy. Across the multitude of available solutions, this thesis provides an in-depth exploration of economic, social, and environmental synergy effects and trade-offs of a portion of the potential solutions within the broader context of sustainable food biomass systems: food loss and waste (FLW) reductions, dietary shifts, and transitioning to a circular bio-based economy. In this, this thesis tackles two specific research challenges that, if addressed, would simultaneously help research on sustainable food and biomass systems: (i) filling data gaps related to FLW along global supply chains, and (ii) enhancing the multidisciplinary modelling of global biomass systems to improve analyses on sustainability transitions. Through the different chapters, this investigation takes a step-by-step approach, expanding the complexity of analyses and methods.