Circular Choices for a competitive EU bioeconomy.

EU policies, such as the upcoming Clean Industrial Deal, should encourage investments in ‘made in Europe’ industries and relaunch the competitiveness of its manufacturing industries, promote innovation, secure employment, and re-position the EU as an attractive market for production.

• Reviewing the assessment of carbon footprint in existing fossil-based and bio-based products to ensure equivalence in treatment while promoting the development of novel innovations to expand the use of wood as a raw material in new and existing applications.
• Driving member states’ implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II and RED III to avoid raw materials’ market distortions and simplifying/streamlining permitting and administrative processes to accelerate the use of renewables.
• Applying the cascading principle[1] in line with market and regional specificities, along the lines of the European Commission’s 2018 guidelines for good practice on the resource-efficient use of wood.
• Establishing a wood, paper and fibre-based Industrial Alliance tasked with supporting the European Commission in creating a stable and predictable policy framework over time.
• Favouring the transition to a sustainable European construction sector as a driving force in relaunching the European economy by creating green jobs, enhancing energy efficiency, reducing emissions, and promoting long-term economic resilience.

[1] _{European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Guidance on cascading use of biomass with selected good practice examples on woody biomass, Publications Office, 2019 (https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/68553)}

In upcoming legislations impacting the EU bioeconomy, biotechnology and the bio-based economy should be recognised in alignment with the EU’s industrial policy, ensuring coordination to enhance policy coherence and predictability. At the same time, securing sufficient and level-playing access to primary and secondary raw materials and renewable energy.

• Developing a stable and sustainable raw material supply for the forest-based bioeconomy, through strategic investment in renewable resources and facilitating industrial symbiosis that encourages partnerships between industries to share resources, including by-products and waste.
• Securing the bioeconomy’s contribution to climate neutrality by including wood and derived products in the methodologies for the Carbon Removals Certification.
• Securing access to abundant and affordable clean energy by incentivising industrial symbiosis, voluntary sector and vector integration and facilitating on-site renewable energy production by unlocking funding opportunities and financing instruments for de-risking the industry’s investments in improving energy efficiency, CO₂ avoidance and switching to renewable energy.
• Acknowledging the value of, and need for, multifunctional forests and diverse, sustainable forest management practices as guiding principles for EU forest-related policies, including wood mobilisation in line with economic and societal needs.
• Measuring the life cycle emissions of fossil fuels to better determine where the biggest savings can come from in switching to renewable energy.
• Ensuring appropriate collection and sorting systems for recycling at scale, where this is not yet in place.