Cefic Publishes Position Paper on EU Bioeconomy Strategy, Calls for Industrial Bioeconomy Strategy

On July 1, 2025, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) announced a new position paper and five-point action plan that will “help deliver a [European Union (EU)] Bioeconomy Strategy that supports the scale-up of bio-based chemistry, biomanufacturing, and achieve industrial transformation while adhering to planetary boundaries.” According to Cefic, the European Commission (EC) should mainstream revision of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy into all forthcoming legislations. The revision should prioritize “actionable and implementable measures for developing an industrial bioeconomy, fostering the international competitiveness and resilience of the EU while adhering to planetary boundaries, and serve both as an industrial and competitiveness strategy.” The five key actions recommended by Cefic are:

• Developing new value chains and new market opportunities by creating efficient demand: According to Cefic, this includes incorporating measures to support bioeconomy industrialization, fostering demand for biomass-derived products in product-specific legislation, aiding the transformation of existing industrial assets, and establishing high-performing bioeconomy clusters;

• Creating agile and coherent regulations and government policy to support innovation and to realize the opportunities brought by the bioeconomy: Cefic states that the EU Bioeconomy Strategy should establish a regulatory framework that facilitates the scaling-up and industrial implementation of the bioeconomy, streamlining and harmonizing initiatives, promoting cross-border cooperation, and establishing a single coordination body within the EC;

• Promoting sustainable sourcing of and access to biomass to support scale-up and industrialization: According to Cefic, this includes ensuring access to all types of biobased feedstocks through sustainability criteria, recognizing synergies across various sectors, supporting innovative management practices in agriculture and forestry, including “Agritech,” maximizing the valorization of by-products and wastes, while regenerating the health of agroecosystems, and reducing import duties via free trade agreements;

• Enabling innovations to move from the lab to the market: Cefic states that continuing and increasing funding for the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), de-risking the scaling up of new biobased innovations and optimizing funding synergies, strengthening open-access infrastructures, and fostering the transformative potential of New Genomic Techniques (NGT), enabling the development of precise microbial production systems; and

• Ensuring the long-term competitiveness of the European chemical industry: According to Cefic, “European chemical companies need a compelling business case and improved competitive conditions with other sectors and international competitors to achieve the growth potential offered by the Bioeconomy.”

As reported in our April 1, 2025, blog item, the EC recently held a public consultation on the upcoming EU Bioeconomy Strategy. Comments were due June 23, 2025.