Aims

If Scotland is to have any chance of meeting its target of reaching ‘Net Zero’ by 2045, we must move away from fossil fuels towards being a bio-economy. Everything that is currently made from non-renewable sources can be made instead from natural materials, such as microalgae, fungi (mycelium, mushrooms etc), alternative crops (hemp, flax, sugar beet etc), timber, and agricultural and manufacturing waste.

In future, you will be wearing headphones made from mushrooms, clothes made out of timber fibre, eating off plates made from mycelium, with the waste from local distilleries being used to power your village or turned into cattle feed. 

This is the third event we have held about bioproducts  following our introductory events "Imagining Bioproducts" and “Reimagining Food” both of which were held in June 2022. It will be a roundtable discussion about bioproducts – in areas including fuels, plastics, textiles, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals. 

round table discussion

“Imagining a Fossil-Fuel-Free Future” is a roundtable discussion with the aim of identifying the obstacles facing bioeconomy start-ups in Scotland and how these might be overcome, with particular reference to Scottish Government policy and incentives. We will hear from successful bioeconomy players as well as new start-ups (even ones that are considering relocating to the EU), and learn how the Republic of Ireland and Scandinavia are leading the way in terms of policy. We will also be covering the value chains a bioeconomy can bring including well paid jobs in rural areas, 

The event is part of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Engagement and Participation Programme and our finding will be fed back to Holyrood to help share future policy, informing its Just Transition Plan for Land Use and Agriculture, the Scottish National Adaptation Plan as well as wider climate policy.

Programme & date

Friday 5th April 2024

1-3:30 pm roundtable discussion organised by SEDA Land. (Online tickets only)

This event is free.

ARTISTIC INTERLUDES, especially commissioned for this event, will be performed by the bassist and composer Tom Lyne and poet and novelist Sophie Cooke.