On 8 September 2026, Cefic hosted a high-level panel discussion in Brussels on “Building the bioeconomy – Setting targets to stay on target”, bringing together representatives from the European Commission, industry, the investment community, and the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU).
The discussion focused on how Europe can translate its bioeconomy ambitions into industrial deployment, particularly by creating stronger demand for bio-based products, securing access to sustainable biomass, and using the forthcoming European Biotech Act II to develop a more coherent Single Market for industrial biotechnology and bio-based products.
Setting the scene, Prof. Dr. Ludo Diels, Senior Advisor at the World BioEconomy Forum, highlighted the bioeconomy’s potential as a key enabler of the green transition, notably by providing renewable sources of carbon that can progressively reduce industry’s dependence on fossil feedstocks. He stressed that biomass can be transformed through both biological and chemical processes, with bioprocesses offering the additional advantage of generally operating under less energy-intensive conditions. Combined with greater circularity, the use and recycling of biogenic carbon could help keep carbon in productive use for longer, support its storage in long-lasting materials, and strengthen Europe’s resilience to fossil-resource dependencies. Diels nevertheless emphasised that the transition will require a more strategic use of limited biomass resources, prioritising applications with high carbon efficiency and increasingly harnessing biotechnology to develop production systems that require less land, water, and pesticide use.
Against this backdrop, a central message from the discussion was that Europe’s challenge is no longer simply to develop innovative bio-based technologies but to create viable markets for them at scale. Panellists repeatedly highlighted the cost differential between conventional, fossil-based products and bio-based alternatives, arguing that technological readiness alone will not generate sufficient demand where customers and consumers remain unwilling to absorb a significant “green premium”. Demand-side measures – including bio-based content requirements, green public procurement, differentiated ERT taxes, and other lead-market instruments – were therefore discussed as potential ways of providing the long-term demand certainty needed to unlock industrial investment.
The Commission indicated that these considerations are feeding directly into its work on Biotech Act II, whose adoption is now expected in early 2027. Hans Ingels, Head of Unit for Bioeconomy, Chemicals and Cosmetics at DG GROW, stressed that the initiative is intended to help create a single market for bio-based products while addressing regulatory barriers, fragmented definitions, and rules that are poorly adapted to biotechnology and the bioeconomy. The Commission is currently examining where the greatest potential exists to scale bio-based production and how demand-side measures could complement wider industrial-policy instruments, including the Clean Industrial Deal and the revised EU ETS. With the impact assessment still ongoing, the precise sectors and measures to be covered have yet to be determined.
Industry participants broadly supported stronger market-pull measures but emphasised that their design will be critical. Dominik Müller, Senior Manager Sustainability and Market Development at UPM Next Generation Renewables, argued that such measures could help steer the transition towards bio-based materials while supporting European growth, jobs, and competitiveness. He pointed in particular to opportunities under product legislation, green public procurement, and EPR schemes, while stressing that demand incentives should be accompanied by appropriate sustainability criteria.
Rupert Posner, Director of Global Sustainability Advocacy and Home Care at Unilever, similarly stressed the need to address both sides of the value chain, supporting producers of bio-based chemicals as well as companies incorporating them into consumer products. At the same time, he cautioned against overly prescriptive sector-by-sector regulation that could increase costs or penalise innovative business models.
The discussion also highlighted that market creation will need to go hand in hand with credible sustainability safeguards. Panellists acknowledged concerns around competition for land and biomass and stressed that policies promoting bio-based products will need appropriate sustainability criteria to demonstrate environmental benefits and maintain public confidence. More efficient use of biomass, greater circularity of biogenic carbon, and the development of biotechnology-based production routes requiring less land, water, and pesticides were presented as important components of a more advanced European bioeconomy.
Finally, speakers underlined that Europe already possesses significant research and technological capabilities but continues to struggle with the transition from demonstration to commercial deployment. Virginia Puzzolo, Head of Programme Unit at the CBE JU, drew on the organisation’s experience of funding more than 200 projects over the past decade, noting that projects involving brand owners and prospective buyers at an early stage generally benefited from a clearer route to market. However, lengthy approval procedures, financing needs, and insufficient certainty over future demand continue to present significant obstacles to commercial-scale deployment.
For businesses, the key issue to watch will therefore be how far will the Biotech Act II move beyond regulatory simplification towards an active market-creation instrument. Options under consideration include minimum content requirements for renewable or non-fossil carbon, potential incentives for European production, regulatory streamlining and sandboxes, biomass sustainability criteria, investment and scale-up support, as well as supply-side incentives and a possible “made in Europe” requirement to support European production. Chemicals could emerge as an early lead market, with plastics and polymers, textiles, construction products, fertilisers and other sectors also potentially affected. The eventual design of these measures could have significant implications not only for biotechnology producers, but also for downstream manufacturers sourcing chemicals and materials across European value chains.
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