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Questions and answers on the new Bioeconomy Strategy
What is the bioeconomy?
The bioeconomy is defined as the activities that deliver sustainable solutions based on biological resources to create added value.
These include products, services, science and technologies benefitting sectors ranging from agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture to value chains based on biomass processing, biomanufacturing and biotechnologies – such as in food, health, energy, industry, ecosystem and other services.
Biological resources include genetic resources as well as primary and secondary biomass, such as by-products and residues, and biogenic carbon captured through innovative technologies.
How will the Bioeconomy Strategy ensure a predictable and enabling environment for bio-based innovation?
With the new Bioeconomy Strategy, the Commission will work to create a coherent and simplified regulatory framework that rewards circular and sustainable business models, while safeguarding EU safety standards. Faster, clearer and simpler approvals for innovative solutions will support companies to develop and grow in Europe, especially for SMEs. The Commission will also ensure that existing and future EU funding goes into bio-based technologies. This will foster innovation and investment in sustainable bio-based solutions – going from pilot to deployment.
The Commission will address regulatory obstacles in the upcoming Biotech Acts. It will also set up a European Bioeconomy Regulators and Innovators' Forum to exchange best practices related to risk assessments of novel bio-based solutions, monitor progress, and engage in early discussions with firms developing novel bio-based solutions. It will coordinate national and EU actions to fast-track authorisation for new entrants and remove barriers.
How will the EU Bioeconomy Strategy support investment in bio-based innovation to scale-up competitive bio-based materials and products?
Under the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the Commission proposed to create a ‘bioeconomy window' inside both the European Competitiveness Fund and the future Horizon programme to fund innovation, mobilise large-scale investment, de-risk industrial deployment and bridge the gap between research, innovation and market upscaling. The Commission will also further review the Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking, a public-private partnership that helps accelerate the innovation process and the market deployment of bio-based solutions. To bring all these instruments together, the Commission will convene a Bioeconomy Investment Deployment Group on finance and investment, combining research, demonstration and scale-up financing across EU and national levels. This group, bringing together the Commission, the EIB Group, national promotional banks and private investors, will create a pipeline of bankable projects, share risk more effectively, and crowd in private capital. This coordinated approach should help mobilise public and private investment over the coming decade, particularly for first-of-a-kind biorefineries, advanced fermentation facilities and bio-based materials manufacturing.
As bio-based materials are moving from pilot to mainstream, one of the main goals of the new Bioeconomy Strategy is to encourage the development of lead markets in areas such as bioplastics, construction materials, textiles, biochemicals and biopesticides. The Commission will support demand in these markets by providing regulatory incentives, facilitating public procurement of bio-based materials and provide the necessary standardisation. To support lead markets, the Commission will launch a flagship voluntary initiative called Bio-based Europe Alliance (BEA), where leading EU companies commit to jointly purchase €10 billion in bio-based materials by 2030.
The new Bioeconomy Strategy also prioritises market uptake and consumer confidence, promoting actions from both the private and public sectors to accelerate acceptance of sustainable bio-based products. The Commission is also looking at criteria for bio-based products in public procurement.
How will companies benefit from a scaled-up bioeconomy?
The Strategy aims to scale up innovation and investments by removing regulatory and market barriers and by tackling the financing gaps that threaten scale-up and market entry.
These actions will support companies that are operating in the bioeconomy but are struggling to grow. Priority will be given to sectors where bio-based solutions are already advanced or at high technology readiness level, ensuring rapid market entry and tangible impact on Europe's bioeconomy expansion. For instance, bio-based plastics or chemicals, construction and textiles.
What are the benefits for farmers, foresters and fishers?
The new Bioeconomy Strategy will strengthen the position of farmers, foresters and fishers in the value chain. It will accelerate innovation, support startups and lead markets of bio-based materials and technologies, diversify income streams and valorise residues, and by-products. These actions will help create new jobs and business opportunities in rural and coastal areas, while ensuring that biomass supply for different economic activities remains efficient, competitive and sustainable.
There is untapped potential in the forestry, fisheries, aquaculture and agriculture to scale sustainable production without compromising ecosystem health. Unlocking this potential requires empowering primary producers, ensuring they are fairly rewarded. They should be supported in adopting high performance and climate-smart technologies as well as resource efficient technologies and circular practices that make full use of their residues.
What are the benefits for citizens?
A scaled-up bioeconomy will bring citizens more affordable and accessible green choices in their daily life. Further growth will not only create new opportunities for quality jobs in rural and coastal areas but also help make sustainable bio-based products more widely available and more affordable. These products include packaging, textiles, building materials and household goods.
By replacing fossil-based materials, the bioeconomy also reduces emissions in key sectors such as chemicals, construction and textiles. This contributes to a cleaner environment and healthier communities.
Will the bioeconomy be sustainable?
As highlighted in the European Environment Agency's 2025 Europe's Environment report, pressures on the EU's natural resources remain high. The new Bioeconomy Strategy addresses these environmental risks with sustainable solutions. Circularity must become a core principle of the European bioeconomy. By extending the lifespan of biological resources, the bioeconomy can reconcile the increased use of biomass with the protection of ecosystems, while creating new value streams from by-products and waste.
To create more value from every unit of biomass harvested, biomass should be used where it creates the greatest benefits for the environment, the economy, and society as a whole.
Biomass production and use should guarantee food and nutrition security, while maintaining and improving ecosystem services (such as carbon sinks, or water retention), before being used an alternative to fossil-based materials or feedstocks, material uses or bioenergy.
Will biomass be sufficient for all competing uses?
According to evidence from European Biomass Puzzle and EU Biomass supply, uses, governance and regenerative action, the EU is largely self-sufficient (around 90%) in biomass supply today. It has all the means to remain so, if we take coherent long-term measures to ensure that biomass is used efficiently and sustainably, and that diversification of biomass sources reduces dependency on primary raw materials.
How is the EU positioning on bioeconomy in the international context?
The EU efforts on bioeconomy are moving away from only research and innovation and towards the mainstreaming stage in terms of enhancing its sustainability and circularity, also in the international context. International collaboration and policy alignment are crucial to overcoming regional disparities and ensuring that the benefits of a circular bioeconomy are equitably distributed.
The topic of bioeconomy is increasingly gaining traction in the international context and in different fora, notably the G20 and FAO. Future work and discussion on the bioeconomy and ensuring its sustainability should continue.
What role will the EU's blue bioeconomy play in this new Bioeconomy Strategy?
The EU's blue bioeconomy is about making better use of unused aquatic resources, such as waste from fisheries and aquaculture, cultivated algae, and non-native species.
The European Ocean Pact, launched in June 2025, supports the growth of the European algae industry, and this goal is also reflected in the EU Bioeconomy Strategy. To achieve this, the Commission will launch a dedicated Blue Bioeconomy Innovation initiative.
For more information
Strategic Framework for a Competitive and Sustainable EU Bioeconomy