EASME is launching this call for tenders in order to conclude a service contract for a study aimed to investigate the use of algae cultivation and its potential contribution to the EU’s climate objectives. The European Commission’s 2019 proposal for a Green Deal reset the Commission’s commitment to achieving zero emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 with economic growth decoupled from resource use. Scenarios explored in the preparation of the EU’s 2018 Clean Planet communication had suggested that more land will be needed for production of biofuel, which will mean less for food and wilderness. It envisaged the “production and use of algae and other new sources of protein which have the potential to relieve the pressure on agricultural land”
General objectives The purpose of this service contract is to provide the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries with a basic background knowledge and up-to-date information that can increase the evidence base for the contribution of the Blue Economy to the EU’s Green Deal. The focus should be put on the costs, impact and benefits of scaling up production of marine algae through aquaculture in the EU.
The contract has the following specific objectives:
– to estimate the nutritional yield from a selection of different algae species, cultivated in marine waters and inland, in both closed and open systems;
– to estimate the costs and greenhouse gas emissions of algae production benchmarked against the production of land based crops with similar nutritional properties such as soya;
– to estimate the carbon price that would allow for production systems that use flue gas sources of carbon dioxide to break even;
– to map the land area that could be used for inland production of algae;
– to estimate the proportion of an animal’s feed requirements that could be met by algae