The Making of Sustainability: Political Consent for the Bioeconomy in Germany

Based on the increased use of biomass, the bioeconomy is presented by its proponents as renewable and therefore sustainable. However, academic and non-academic actors have strongly questioned this sustainability, citing the negative socio-ecological aspects of biomass use. Given this contradiction, we look at German bioeconomy policy and ask how key institutions of the innovation system (government, science, and industry), construct and uphold the image of sustainability of biomass use in the bioeconomy. Through an analysis based on Gramscian analysis of political consent, this paper looks at biomass policy in Germany. The paper identifies four ideological strategies to uphold the image of sustainability and contribute to creating political consent for the political project of the German bioeconomy: seeking managerial solutions, relying on technological innovation, relegating solutions into the future, and obscuring the materiality of nature. The paper discusses how these strategies are upheld by the wider discourse and institutions of ecological modernization and argues that particular attention should be given to the biophysical materiality of living nature in this context. The materiality of nature represents both an obstacle to the ideological strategies identified, and a starting point for envisioning alternative society–nature relations.