A new WWF report concludes that industrial biotechnology can provide dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and provide strong progress toward a green and sustainable economy.

Industrial biotechnology could generate between 1 and 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gas reductions per year by 2030, as well as build a new green economy, according to the group. "WWF sees industrial biotech as an industry that can play a very significant role in the development of a new, green economy if developed in the right way. The world can’t afford to ignore this opportunity," says John Kornerup Bang, Head of Globalization Programme for WWF.

Industrial biotechnology is currently used to produce hundreds of everyday products, including detergents, textiles, bread, wine, beer, and bioethanol. For example, the use of modern enzymatic detergents has reduced washing temperatures from 60 to 30 degrees Celsius, saving millions of tons of CO₂. The future could hold a bio-based economy in which biorefineries outcompete petrochemicals by transforming waste products and other biomass into fermentable sugars to make energy as well as products that are currently made from oil. This could include everything from diapers to plastics.

"In a few years sugar will be the new oil. Already today close to 200 biorefineries are operating in the U.S. and yet we have only seen the beginning. Industrial biotechnology today is a sector with a number of pioneers who are demonstrating that this is technically feasible," says Steen Riisgaard, CEO of Novozymes, who provided research for the study.

To view the report visit http:// www.divshare.com/download/8537942-24e