High-Impact Bio-Based Initiative for a Circular Europe

(Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking/Politico) The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking delivers substantial socio-economic and environmental benefits to Europe, actively contributing to the European Green Deal -- Did you know that renewable biological resources such as waste, agricultural and forestry residues, and aquatic biomass can be used to produce greener everyday products, from food and cosmetics, to animal feed, bio-based chemicals, textiles, and biodegradable packaging?

In Europe, the bio-based industries sector is already worth €700 billion and employs 3.2 million people directly, but it faces complex and substantial technology and innovation challenges. Full deployment of such technologies on to the market requires sustainable sourcing of biomass, as well as new business models, which integrate all the economic actors across the value chains. The complexity of such an endeavor dictates the necessity to foster collaborations not only across sectors, but also across borders. An institutional public-private partnership was therefore needed to ensure the full deployment of the bioeconomy in Europe.

Since 2014, the catalyst for the development of bio-based industries in Europe has been the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), a €3.7 billion institutional public-private partnership between the European Union (EU) and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). This partnership was created to structure the sector and make the European bio-based industry more competitive and sustainable, and so far it is well on track to deliver on its promises.

“When we launched the BBI JU, we aimed to put Europe firmly on the map of attractive regions to invest in bio-based industries,” says Philippe Mengal, executive director of the BBI JU. “We’ve not just achieved this, but we’ve made it a global leader. More and more companies outside of the EU are now interested in joining our growing community of more than 1,100 project participants from 33 countries and making investments in Europe. I am excited to see what the next five years will bring.”

As an example of the socio-economic impact, the first nine biorefinery flagship projects alone will generate more than 3,000 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs, well spread throughout Europe. They will also leverage €1.2 billion of investments from industry, contributing to rural revitalization and delivering bio-based products with a lower greenhouse gas footprint.

The two main positive effects of the BBI JU have been the structuring effect in organizing the value chains across sectors and the innovation-driven mobilizing effect of all key stakeholders. Through its 101 funded projects, this joint undertaking has been fostering new collaborations, transforming once-linear value chains into more interconnected ones. The results have been impressive: BBI JU projects now expect to create 143 new cross-sector interconnections and 113 new bio-based value chains. READ MORE includes VIDEO