EU bioeconomy strategy – Towards a circular, regenerative and competitive bioeconomy

Key points:

In the opinion, the EESC:   

  • highlights that Europe faces increasing pressure as a resource-constrained and import-dependent continent, and stresses the need to strengthen the European Green Deal and Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring coherence with circular economy, climate and biodiversity objectives to support a sustainable and competitive bioeconomy within planetary boundaries; 
  • recalls that EU leadership in the bioeconomy requires clear, strict and enforceable principles on the sourcing and use of biomass, applied across supply chains and equally to domestic and imported materials, while addressing unfair competition from underpriced fossil-based resources; 
  • reminds that the bioeconomy must fully respect the waste hierarchy by prioritising the reduction of resource use, ensuring that biomass is used efficiently and sustainably, and avoiding short-term applications that do not contribute to circularity.

The full text of the opinion is available here.  

Context:  

The EU is currently shaping key policies that will define the future of its bioeconomy, including the Circular Economy Act, the Bioeconomy Strategy, and related climate, biodiversity and industrial frameworks. This comes at a time of growing pressure on natural resources, increasing geopolitical tensions and strong global competition for both fossil- and bio-based materials.

In this context, the EESC opinion provides timely guidance to ensure that the bioeconomy develops within clear environmental and social limits. It stresses that scaling up innovation and demand must be based on sustainable biomass supply, respect for biodiversity and strict application of circular economy principles.

The opinion also highlights the need for stronger policy coherence across EU legislation and clearer rules on resource use, sustainability criteria and global supply chains. This is essential to avoid unintended impacts, ensure fair competition and support investment in sustainable solutions.

By addressing these issues, the opinion contributes directly to ongoing legislative discussions, helping ensure that the EU bioeconomy becomes not only competitive, but also truly sustainable and aligned with its climate and biodiversity goals.

Date of the section meeting: 16 April 2026
Rapporteur: Arnaud SCHWARTZ  (Civil society organisations' group – FR)
The opinion will be on vote adopted at the EESC plenary on 29 April 2026.

Contacts: