- Client: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)
- Implementation period: December, 2023 - June, 2025 (Completed)
- Geographic coverage: European Union
- Theme: Environment, Water
- Topic: Algae, Bioeconomy, Blue carbon, Carbon sequestration
- Experts: Oana Forestier, Foivos Petsinaris, Afrodit Adsal, Petra Remeta, Andreea Beznea, Private: Daria Selyavina
Achieving a sustainable society requires transformative shifts in how we produce and consume, particularly in response to urgent challenges like food security, water pollution, and climate change. Algae – both macro- and microalgae – offer significant potential to address these issues through diverse products and valuable ecosystem services.
Despite a growing demand, the algae sector remains underdeveloped within the EU bioeconomy. This study examined the key barriers and opportunities for scaling up algae production sustainably, and proposes a strategic pathway to realise its environmental, social, and economic potential – especially for Europe’s coastal and rural regions. The study was divided into six Work Packages (WPs):
- Work Package 1: Advancing algae-based alternatives in EU aquafeeds: pathways to reducing fish-based ingredients
- Work Package 2: Regulatory barriers, sustainable good practices, and recommendations on future paths on using viable recycled media in microalgae fertilising products for organic farming
- Work Package 3: Algae potential for (waste)water treatment and fertiliser/plant biostimulants production
- Work Package 4: The role of algae in climate change mitigation in European seas
- Work Package 5: Recommendations for sustainable wild seaweed harvesting and beach collection of seaweed on European coasts
- Work Package 6: The role of algae in sustainable food and feed systems
In addition being the overall project manager, Trinomics was leading the implementation of Work Package 4 and provided key expertise (legal analysis, economic analysis, life cycle assessment) to other Work Packages.
The main outputs of this projects are accessible on the CINEA website here: Study to support an EU Sustainable Algae Industry.
