The EUBA and EU decision-makers come together to upscale ambitions for bioeconomy policies

BRUSSELS – On 4 March, the European Bioeconomy Alliance (EUBA) held  a high-level  breakfast event  in the European Parliament, hosted by MEP Dario Nardella (AGRI Coordinator for the S&D Group), to chart the path from strategy to industrial reality. The event, titled "From Strategy to Action: Delivering Europe’s Bioeconomy," gathered key MEPs, the Commission Lead representative for Bioeconomy  and a bioeconomy industry leader to identify the regulatory gaps preventing the EU from fully scaling up its bio-based sectors.

In his keynote speech, MEP Nardella pointed out the importance of supporting stakeholders involved in the bioeconomy in order to accelerate the transition away from fossil-based solutions and pave the way for the 2050 carbon neutrality target, in the context of external shocks challenging EU resilience.

With key legislations coming up such as the CAP Post-2027, the Biotech Acts or the Energy Union Package, MEP Nardella emphasized that bioeconomy is a policy realm that concerns everyone and hence multiple EP groups and Committees should address the topic.

Afterwards, EUBA President Jori Ringman (Cepi) made it clear that bioeconomy cannot be a footnote of EU policies. Europe is searching for competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy. Yet, one of the most powerful solutions is already growing in our fields and forests. Mr Ringman referred to a recent expert paper by nova-Institut, commissioned by EUBA, which brought much-needed clarity to the debate. The report concluded that the use of first-generation agricultural biomass — cereals, sugars and oil crops — for food, feed, materials and energy delivers four clear benefits for Europe: stronger farm resilience, enhanced food security, indispensable support for climate mitigation, and more efficient land use that protects biodiversity.

Representing the Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment, Head of Unit Emmanuelle Maire presented the Bioeconomy Strategy’s key features and reminded the audience of the importance of biomass availability and investments.

Turning the Bioeconomy Strategy into holistic policy action

Whilst labelling bioeconomy her ‘friend’, MEP Emma Wiesner underlined its multi-faceted nature. Bioeconomy has a fully fledged role to play in EU Competitiveness efforts in that bioeconomy is evergrowing, democratic and is no resource owned by a few States. As enablers, MEP Wiesner shed light on infrastructure, R&D and financial risk mitigation. In connection with the EU Emission Trading System (ETS), there should be an allowances system put in place for fossil-based products in order to bring about competitive bio-based products. The political risk equally constitutes an obstacle to bioeconomy scalability.

In the middle of the Post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) negotiations, MEP Barry Cowen took stock of the Green Deal and highlighted that input costs have been exacerbated by geopolitical realities. The Commission’s efforts in relation to farmers’ generational renewal go in the right direction. Overall, rewarding systems are key to supplementing farmers’ incomes and constitute a huge condition to reduce emissions.

Representing the company Tereos, Mr Christophe Lescroart hammered his motto: ‘never spoil a good crisis’. To scale up its activities, the bioeconomy does not need new molecules nor additional capital. An increased market demand will be needed from 2027. There is a wide land of opportunity, notably with forestry and biofuels. In some EU Member States, lots of hectares are underutilized. Market incentives are crucial.

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'The Bioeconomy Strategy is a good first step but now we must turn this Strategy into action, together. With the CAP Post-2027, the Biotech Acts, the potential introduction of bio-based content requirements for other products, the Energy Union Package and multiple carbon farming initiatives coming our way, I hope today’s discussions laid the groundwork for legislations that make bioeconomy a centrepiece and not an afterthought.' stated MEP Nardella.

 

About EUBA - The European Bioeconomy Alliance (EUBA) sectors bring together a wide range of sectors providing 29 million jobs in the production, use, refining and transformation of bio-based renewable feedstocks into food, feed, chemicals, manufacturing materials, biofuels, and solid and gaseous biomass fuels. Many of these products can successfully be deployed across sectors and industries, with equal or better performance than fossil-based competitors. We are already making a real-world difference in shifting from fossil-based to bio-based materials, energy and chemicals.