It’s the last chance saloon time for producers of renewable chemicals and plastics, as increased competition from subsidised imports and worldwide overcapacity of fossil counterparts, risk pushing the sector over the edge. Companies are hanging on for some positive signs in the latest iteration of the EU’s Bioeconomy Strategy, which has just been published. It includes some commitments to promote the uptake of biobased chemicals and polymers, but are they enough?
Europe was the crucible in which much of the modern chemicals industry was forged. Here nitrogen from the atmosphere was ‘fixed ‘to make ammonia, crucial for modern fertilisers and increased food production. Gas and coal were transformed into liquid fuels and solvents. Cement was invented to revolutionise building, and new polymers replaced wood, metal, wool and cotton so growing populations could have materials at prices they could afford. So, with this great tradition, it is only right that Europe should lead the way in adapting the industry it shaped to achieve net zero. And biobased plastics and chemicals are an important part of the transition to a low carbon economy.
So, what is standing in the way? Well price of course. Biomass is more expensive than fossil feedstocks and new processing technology is still being paid for, whereas most local oil and gas processing infrastructure was written down years ago. But also European policy. The European Commission has been lukewarm about the sector. The communications on the Bioeconomy Strategy have been less than enthusiastic. There should be more praise for the great products that are already established and trying to increase market share, such as green polyethylene and innovative new polymers, particularly PLA and PEF.
In contrast, European policies for low carbon fuels and packaging tackle the problem of price head-on. A proportion of fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable fuels in road, air and maritime transport and there is a mandatory recycled content for some plastic packaging. Policy makers must have considered that forcing companies to buy recycled or renewable raw materials and pay the extra cost was the right way to get these sectors to adapt. So why not a mandatory percentage of biobased content, on average, in chemicals, plastics and products on the European market? This was certainly the ask from industry players at a recent conference on renewable materials organised by the Nova Institut. Associations representing parts of the sector have also requested a number of measures including a similar biobased content requirement.
Industry lobbying seems to have had some success, although the text in the new Bioeconomy Strategy is ambiguous, and the devil will be in the detail. There is a renewed commitment to support the uptake of biobased plastics ‘in complementarity’ with recycled content targets for packaging in the Packaging Regulation. There are likely to be sustainability requirements to match any incentives or requirements for biocontent. But as these have already been established for biofuels, together with the schemes to administer them, there is no excuse for a long implementation period. There is also a vague statement about assessing prospects for certification and scaling of bio-based polymers in general. This was enough for European Bioplastics to welcome the document.
And as for other chemicals? Well just a ‘possible introduction of bio-based content requirements for certain products placed on the EU single market’. There is also some relief for operators of biorefineries. The proposed cascading use of biomass, with chemical uses placed above fuel uses, which was leaked a while ago, seems to have been scaled back. Operators of existing biorefineries had pointed out that their operations, which produce both bio-based chemicals and products which can only be used as fuels, would be adversely affected.
It's not just policy that is a problem. The lack of recognition for the climate benefits of biobased products, by the arbiters of corporate GHG emissions reporting the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), is a disincentive to uptake. Several attendees at the Nova Institut conference indicated that companies are giving up on biobased content as it is not recognised by SBTi to count towards corporate targets. This represents an additional barrier to the development of the bioeconomy.
So the long awaited Bioeconomy Strategy offers some hope for producers, but if there are no concrete outcomes that meet the needs of industry, the bioeconomy will surely wither on the vine.
Updated: 28 November 2025
Published: 27 November 25
