The bioeconomy surrounds us but there is enormous potential for more
Jessika Roswall: 'Europe’s forests, soils and other ecosystems need to be managed wisely, and within ecological limits.' Photo: Xavier Lejeune
Imagine a world where the everyday products that fill our lives, from plastics and paint to clothes and construction materials, all came from renewable, biological and home-grown natural resources, instead of fossil fuels.
You would brush your teeth with a wooden toothbrush and apply nail polish made from algae in a home insulated with natural materials. You walk to work in plant-based trainers, carry your lunch in a bio-based plastic bag and eat it with a corn-based fork.
Meanwhile, our farmers grow our food using bio-fertilisers, our factories produce sustainable packaging with hemp, and our batteries use wood-pulp. Each item and material every bit as effective and reliable as their fossil-based alternatives. Each of them circular and climate-friendly by design.
And what if we could do all that while supporting rural communities, delivering quality jobs and green growth, and reducing our carbon footprint at the same time?
It’s much closer than you might have thought. Welcome to the bioeconomy — an innovative solution to a fossil-based problem that we quickly need to leave behind.
In 2023, the EU bioeconomy generated €863 billion, representing 5% of EU GDP and supporting over 17 million jobs. But it has the potential to be so much more.
The EU is well-positioned to lead the global bioeconomy: powered by science and innovation, based on our own natural resources and raw materials, and supported by our single market.
More than two-thirds of EU member states have committed to national bioeconomy strategies. Ireland has a Bioeconomy Action Plan and the National Development Plan also highlights the sector’s potential. We want to support more breakthroughs to make the leap from innovation to growth.
The EU’s new Bioeconomy Strategy aims to supercharge this growth. We will work with farmers, foresters and other small businesses to bridge the gap from lab to market and turn ideas into industrial reality.
The strategy will ensure a robust financial ecosystem, combining public and private investment. It will also provide regulatory clarity; delivering simple, coherent rules that speed up approvals for innovative solutions.
Europe needs to nurture those bio-based sectors with the greatest potential for economic expansion and environmental benefit. But this growth must be guided by a firm commitment to sustainability.
Europe’s forests, soils and other ecosystems need to be managed wisely, and within ecological limits. We have one eye on green growth and the other on a sustainable future, and that means the bioeconomy must combat biodiversity loss and pollution.
That also requires a strong focus on circularity and better use of leftover biomass like organic waste or agricultural residues such as cereal straw or sawdust. Instead of being dumped, these can fertilise our crops, feed our animals or form the basis for biomaterials. We can turn waste into wealth and help Europe to produce more value with fewer primary resources.
The bioeconomy can boost European prosperity and sharpen our competitive edge. And it will reduce our reliance on vulnerable global supply chains and on other countries for raw materials.
I see it as a defining pillar of the European project to build strategic autonomy and tackle climate change; a society-wide investment in our rural communities and regions, in our environment and ecosystems, and most of all, in our future.
Think about it as you go about your day, surrounded by countless fossil-based products. And imagine a cleaner, more sustainable, more resilient Europe.
- Jessika Roswall is European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy
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