EU eyes new bioeconomy strategy to boost competitiveness
Speaking at a Euractiv event last week, Agata Kotkowska, the commission official working on the file in the EU executive's environment department, gave a preview of what to expect. The main focus, she said, is to anchor the bioeconomy in Europe's competitiveness drive and to consider it a 'strategic growth engine' that can leverage the EU's strengths. It will build upon the first bioeconomy strategy published in 2012 and last updated in 2018.
'Europe is well-positioned to lead. We have the scientific excellence. We have the talent, we have the industrial know-how,' she told the audience.
'And we have policy ambitions to be sustainable and to lead bio-based innovation worldwide. And this is a very competitive emerging area right now. The bioeconomy is part of global competitiveness; more than 50 countries already have strategies.'
These will connect to the goals listed in the report on Europe's competitiveness conducted by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi last year, she said.
Upgraded bioeconomy strategies
Both the US and the UK recently upgraded their bioeconomy strategies in 2022, which took into account new genomic techniques in agriculture, feed and food protein from precision fermentation as well as advances in synthetic biology and biomanufacturing. Since then, the bioeconomy sector in Europe has been urging the Commission to quickly follow suit with an update.
The bioeconomy refers to those industries which utilise renewable biological resources like plants, animals, and microorganisms to produce food, materials, and energy.
It aims to transition from a reliance on fossil fuels and non-renewable resources to a more sustainable system based on biological resources. This includes using these resources to create bio-based products, develop bioenergy, and improve food and feed production.
Take a wide approach
Stakeholders speaking at the Euractiv event stressed the need for the strategy to take a wide approach to the whole bioeconomy value chain.
'The bioeconomy is a very diverse area, producing products that are used in different industrial sectors – the stakeholders are covering a whole value chain from feedstock production to making new applications and bringing them to the market,' said Dirk Carrez, Executive Director of the Biobased Industries Consortium.
Carrez was also speaking on behalf of the European Bioeconomy Alliance, a grouping of 60 organisations representing 29 million professionals producing, using or transforming renewable feedstock into products.
'So, it's important for the strategy to cover all aspects – not just the products but also all the stakeholders from feedstock supply to new applications,' he said.
'The question is really, how can the new bioeconomy strategy help us in the transition from a more fossil-based economy towards a more sustainable economy based on renewable feedstock? And how can we strengthen this so our European industry becomes more autonomous?'
Raw materials gap
Up to now, the EU's bioeconomy strategy has largely focused on the utilisation of agricultural, forestry and industrial waste streams. But stakeholders have argued that the strategy does not pay enough attention to the significant raw materials gap that needs to be filled.
At a high-level meeting about the bioeconomy strategy in May, EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall indicated that the Commission is looking to 'reflect the needs and aspirations of citizens, companies, farmers, foresters and other stakeholders.'
The consultation asked stakeholders about new types of feedstocks beyond just the agricultural residues used to produce biofuels or chemicals. For instance, it asks about new multipurpose facilities that use technologies such as microbial conversion to take advantage of new types of feedstocks.
Create resilience
John Brosnan, a bioeconomy executive at the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), said at the Euractiv event that the primary sector, providing the feedstock, is welcoming the wider input sought on the strategy.
'The bioeconomy is an 'and' not an 'or'. I sometimes hear from other primary producers, 'is this a competition for land?' I would say it's not, it's an opportunity to create resilience for primary producers and co-operatives in their own value chain,' said Brosnan.
Richard Harrison, Managing Director of the Plant Science Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, said that he would like to see the strategy address concerns about imported feedstock. 'We currently do not produce enough biomass in Europe to satisfy our current desires for our current demands. So we import a lot, in the form of soy, cocoa, soy, coffee, palm oil, and many of those are not necessarily sustainably produced sources.'
Jessika van Leeuwen, a Dutch MEP from the centre-right EPP Group who sits on the European Parliament's agriculture committee, said that the strategy should be an opportunity to rethink the EU's agricultural policy.
No agriculture, no bioeconomy
'Without agriculture, there is no bioeconomy. What I would like to see is progress, but there's been stalling for a while – and we read this in the Draghi report – because we've been focusing on 'less' in Europe. Less emissions, fewer animals, less use of chemicals. And of course, this has been driven by an ideology or a pessimistic world view where we use technology as some sort of quick fix to the problems that we see.'
But she added, 'Actually, now, and I think this is a positive sign, this new bioeconomy industry is emerging, which shows that we don't have to choose between green and moving forward.'
The new bioeconomy strategy is expected to be presented at the end of November in Copenhagen, Denmark, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council until the end of the year.
Sonja Canger, agriculture and food counsellor at the Danish permanent representation to the EU, said at the Euractiv event that though most of the work on this will come after their presidency, as a government, Denmark is particularly keen to see the strategy be connected with climate targets.
'From the Danish perspective, it's important that the strategy includes the whole bio-based value chain, including health, microbiology, food and the ingredients sector as well as ecosystem services,' said Canger.
[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv's Advocacy Lab ]
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