Launch the Bioeconomy Challenge Metrics Working Group, Defining Key Objectives, Anticipated Outcomes, and Milestones through 2028

This event marked the launch of the Bioeconomy Challenge Metrics Working Group. In leading this group, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) will build on its 2025 Indicators for Sustainable Bioeconomy: Towards Building a Monitoring and Assessment Framework, developed in close collaboration with the G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy, launched by Brazil in 2024 in its role as G20 President and carried forward by South Africa in 2025. The work also responds to priorities heard in a wide-reaching consultation process facilitated by FAO in 2025 towards the possible establishment of a global, multistakeholder partnership on bioeconomy – an initiative requested by FAO Member countries in 2024. Having gathered inputs from more than 530 stakeholders from over 70 countries, common indicators and data to track the growth and assess the sustainability of bioeconomy emerged as a core priority for collaboration.

In opening remarks, Carina Pimenta, National Secretary of Bioeconomy, Brazil, welcomed the launch of the Working Group and situated it within the broader Bioeconomy Challenge. She recalled its starting point was the G20 High Level Principles on Bioeconomy (2024), announced under Brazil’s G20 Presidency. While these principles represent a major achievement, she said they are lacking a clear pathway to implementation, a gap the Challenge seeks to fill by gathering institutions, experts, and communities. Pimenta described the effort as a collaborative space for agreement on metrics, standards, and approaches that support inclusive and market-ready bioeconomies.

Moderator Kaveh Zahedi, Director, Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, FAO, then recalled FAO’s long lasting work on bioeconomy, including the 2021 Aspirational principles and criteria for a sustainable bioeconomy, which sought to put forward a holistic vision for the production, utilization, conservation, and regeneration of biological resources in ways that support global food and nutrition security and sustainable development. He said the G20 High Level Principles include a call for “transparent, comparable, measurable, inclusive, science-based and context-specific criteria and methodologies” which, he said, would allow countries, producers, and consumers to speak a common language. He explained the Working Group aims to bring together the substantial body of tools and datasets across institutions that already exist in a coherent way. He then outlined the roadmap to 2028 for the Working Group, which includes pilot testing, support for national bioeconomy strategies, and collaboration with mechanisms that update evidence and datasets.

A panel then explored key questions for the Working Group, including the purpose of bioeconomy metrics, essential elements for international coherence, and how to balance global consistency with local relevance.

Siloshini Naidoo, Head of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), noted that South Africa’s leadership in the G20 encouraged stronger attention to bioeconomy opportunities across value chains. Naidoo stressed the need for definitional clarity, combined with both qualitative and quantitative indices that avoid siloed approaches. She said development banks seek comparable yet context sensitive indicators that build on existing ESG work, and that reflect local realities while contributing to global alignment.

Greg Watson, Chief, Biodiversity and Natural Capital Unit, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), described efforts among multilateral development banks to create practical guidance for selecting nature-related metrics. He pointed to the recently released MDB Joint Guidance Note on Measuring Nature and Scaling Its Financing. Watson stressed that metrics serve many purposes, from reporting to investment decisions, and that the Working Group should clarify the exact goals of measurement. He shared examples from pilots in Brazil, including work on bioingredients and ecosystem investment programmes. 

Victoria Crawford, Director, Agriculture and Food, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), confirmed that the private sector seeks greater convergence on metrics. She cited WBCSD’s efforts to align approaches across nature, forest solutions, sustainable plastics, and regenerative agriculture. For companies, she explained, metrics inform procurement and investment choices, support collective solutions, and guide cross value-chain collaboration. Crawford recommended a structure that includes a core set of metrics applicable everywhere, complemented by a longer supplementary list that allows for local specificity. She emphasized the importance of participatory processes that involve producers, communities, and other stakeholders.

Marcelo Behar, COP 30 Special Envoy for Bioeconomy, shared reflections from his previous experience working in the private sector at Natura. He described Natura’s work to connect metrics on conservation areas, bioingredient portfolios, and community benefits. He underlined the challenge of linking these measures with financial performance in ways that reward nature-positive outcomes. Behar called for scientific units and goals for nature that mirror the clarity of climate metrics. He pointed to the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures as the most advanced effort so far and encouraged the Working Group to build systems that create value for communities and ecosystems.

During an open exchange, participants asked about definitions, scales of measurement, and guardrails. A question highlighted the value of starting with clear goals and of mapping existing programmes, an approach used in recent US bioeconomy work. Another queried into how the metrics would function at different scales, from product level to national level. A participant from the World Resources Institute stressed the importance of guardrails that prevent harmful practices, including monocultures and extractive approaches.

Anjali Goswami, Chief Scientific Adviser and Director General of Science, Data and Analysis, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK, delivered final reflections. She emphasized the importance of collaborative work across sectors and noted that metrics play a central role in monitoring biodiversity and climate outcomes. She encouraged the group to consider common sets of traits, longer lists of supplementary indicators, and new tools such as big data and AI that can handle complex ecological information.

In closing, Zahedi stressed that the first task of the Working Group will be to catalogue what already exists and identify how it can be brought together. Pimenta encouraged a pragmatic approach that delivers workable solutions while remaining honest about limitations. She noted that the Working Group’s objective is not to create a definition of bioeconomy, but rather to shape a shared language that supports national strategies and global cooperation.

Organizers: Ministry of Environment of Brazil, FAO

Contact: [email protected]

For more information: https://www.fao.org/in-action/sustainable-and-circular-bioeconomy/dashboard/en/