When it was launched in 2012, the EU’s bioeconomy strategy was primarily focused on the production of fuels for transport. That policy has since been reversed to focus on bio-based chemicals and materials like textiles and bioplastics.
In this special report, Euractiv looks at the bioeconomy’s priorities for the next decades and efforts to develop multi-purpose biorefineries that can take on several feedstocks depending on their availability.
-
Scaling up: The bioeconomy’s 30-year challenge
Est. 7minBio-based chemicals have the potential to partly replace fossil fuels in applications like fertilisers and plastics, but the transition will take decades and there are still big challenges ahead to scale up production without harming the environment, scientists say.
-
Business leader: ‘Europe lacks a clear policy framework for bio-based products’
Est. 9minEurope needs stronger policies for bio-based products in order to make it clear that virgin fossil products do not compete in the same category, Rob Beekers argues in an interview with Euractiv. Rob Beekers is Business Development Director at Cargill, an …
-
Funding the bioeconomy: Calming investors’ fears
Est. 7minBanks and financial institutions see investment in scaling up bio-based technologies as “non-bankable” despite these initiatives offering clear paths to reaching government-set environment and climate targets. What’s going wrong?
-
Academic: Phasing out fossil-based fertilisers necessary, but won’t happen overnight
Est. 11minFifteen or twenty years will be needed “at the very least” to phase out fossil-based fertilisers and switch to bio-based solutions, says Kevin O’Connor. But it can be done with the right incentives, he argues in an interview.
-
Join the conversation to shape Europe’s circular bio-based future
The discussion on the future of the European circular bio-based sector will take place at the CBE JU Stakeholder Forum on 6-7 December 2023 in Brussels. The event will gather about 600 European bioeconomy stakeholders around the main theme ’What next for the European bio-based sector?’.