Almost none countries currently meet the minimum criteria for global sustainable development. Environmental and public health crises related to air and water pollution, pressures on energy supplies and natural resource and sea level rising have become a reality for many people. There is an urgent need to replace the linear model “take, make, consume and dispose” by a 4R approach “repair, refurbish, reuse and recycle”.

Besides waste prevention and reuse, bio-based materials, eco-design and circular economy is becoming a new development strategy for cities and territories. Waste and biomass valorization brings new job opportunities and significant net savings for businesses while reducing environmental harm and improving the population’s well-being.

According to the annual review of the International Renewable Energy Agency (2018), global renewable energy employment reached 8.8 million jobs in 2017. This represents an increase of 5.3% compared with the number reported in 2016. Bioenergy from biomass and waste (the field covered by the master BiWEM) accounts for 3.08 million jobs. Biofuels employment (at close to 2 million jobs) expanded by 12% in the world, as production of ethanol and biodiesel expanded in most of the major producers.

France benefits from a long, proud tradition of scientific and technological research and innovation that underpins the nation’s achievements in fields such as bioenergy, sustainable development, climate change, waste management. In the French research landscape, the RAPSODEE Research centre (UMR CNRS 5302) is uniquely positioned to deliver leading-edge training in cleantech and circular economy. Boosted by the RAPSODEE Research centre, BiWEM is a multidisciplinary leading-edge training program that is specifically tailored to address future environmental and societal challenges in the fields of renewable energy and low-carbon economy. BACK