Europe’s bio-based industry eyes Green Deal accelerant

For the innovators behind new biodegradable, recyclable products, the EU’s biggest-ever climate and environment battle plan opens up opportunities for growth

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Europe’s bio-innovators believe they can play a key role in enabling the continent to meet new climate targets set by the European Green Deal, the recent biannual gathering of the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) programme heard in Brussels.

“We are called to achieve something very specific: sustainable growth,” said Philippe Mengal, executive director of the BBI JU, a €3.7 billion public-private partnership led by the EU and the Bio-based Industry Consortium (BIC).

Mengal said that the bio-based industries’ time has come. “Already since its inception, our programme has been contributing to some kind of a ‘Green Deal’,” he said.

Philippe Mengal, Executive Director of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking

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BBI JU Stakeholder Forum 2019 in Brussles, Belgium.

As evidence, Mengal points to the partnership’s ambitious list of goals for the whole sector, such as the replacement of 30 per cent of oil-based materials with bio-based ones, and the creation of 700,000 new green jobs, especially in rural and coastal areas.

Unless the bioeconomy takes off in a big way, the world is going to suffer, argues Laura Crowther-Alwyn, project engineer at the Technical Paper Centre at Grenoble University and member of the BBI JU-funded ‘Sherpack’ research project.

Her interest is in creating a closed-loop system where there’s little or no waste because materials would be reused, shared, repaired and refurbished. This model, sometimes referred to as the circular economy, can displace conventional fuels and waste disposal methods, she said. “I’m convinced the world will collapse in 10 years if we don’t change our ways. We have to do everything again - we need to look at algae, wood and cellulose for new products. It’s a great opportunity for research and innovation and as a scientist, I find it very exciting,” Crowther-Alwyn explained.

The idea behind the bioeconomy is to keep resources in use for as long as possible. Bio-based industries create business models around the use and re-use of sustainable products, as a way of limiting carbon emissions and other kinds of pollution. More than just recycling – which has a carbon footprint all of its own – bio-based processes rely on renewable natural resources that, unlike fossil fuels, can be replaced at minimal environmental cost.

‘Rural renaissance’: BBI sparks a new industry to life

European researchers are among the global pioneers of this bio concept. Mengal said the BBI JU’s work now spans 101 grant projects worth €602 million. These projects are spread across 35 countries, including all but two EU member states, plus other countries, such as Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Israel, North Macedonia and the Faroe Islands.

The European Commission also regards the bioeconomy as a crucial part of Europe’s efforts to mitigate climate change as well as an economic opportunity. “The bio-based industry can create new products and value chains that were impossible with fossil materials,” said Wolfgang Burtscher, Deputy Director-General of the Commission’s research department.

Burtscher added that the opportunities created by BBI JU are particularly important for “regions that were left behind by other transformative

“I’m convinced the world will collapse in 10 years if we don’t

change our ways.”

- Laura Crowther-Alwyn

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changes,” such as foresters and fishermen. “BBI JU can contribute to what we call ‘rural renaissance,’” he said.

The sector already has a turnover of around €700 billion per year in the EU, according to Mengal. But it remains unconnected and spread out. Only through enhanced cooperation among various groups in the food production system can the bioinnovators succeed in significantly reducing energy consumption and waste.

The BBI JU partnership has achieved impressive results, according to Mengal. “It managed to mobilise industry and engage it in research, and the development, testing and demonstration of bio-based innovations,” he said, describing the so-called flagship biorefinery projects as “the most striking sign of success”. These are pilot schemes for new ideas in the sector, such as ‘Farmÿng’, which aims to produce pet food from insects, because insect farming has a smaller impact on the environment than other methods of food production.

A bio-based packaging project called Dendromass4Europe, meanwhile, is extracting a pesticide from poplar trees and using it to make lighter and sturdier materials. Boxes made during the project proved to be less vulnerable to mould. Sweden-based furniture giant IKEA, a partner in this BBI JU project, is using the same technique to make lighter furniture. “Less weight means less carbon going out into the atmosphere,” said Sandra Liebal, an academic staffer at Dresden University of Technology, another partner in Dendromass4Europe.

Slowly going bio

The public are slowly growing acquainted with bio-based products. A nappy recycling scheme by the BBI-funded ‘Embraced’ project in the Netherlands, for instance, is educating people about the harmful traces left by certain baby products. Italy’s FaterSmart, a FATER JV between P&G and Angeli- leader in nappies manufacturing, has installed 12 smart bins in three neighbourhoods of Amsterdam. In exchange for depositing used nappies, parents get a discount on their next diaper purchase.

Researchers are also doing their bit to get the word out. Fabio Fava, professor of industrial and environmental biotechnology at the University of Bologna, says he holds special events to increase awareness of the bioeconomy in Italy. “We have the big researcher nights, where the public come and see what we do. We also host special ‘science plaza’ events,” added Fava, who coordinates Italy’s bioeconomy strategy.

But he admitted the bioeconomy is so sprawling that even he gets confused about what’s bio and what’s not. “We need a glossary, it’s too difficult for me to keep up,” he suggested. Some products grown using regenerative practices can also be expensive and therefore out of reach to low-income consumers.

The bioeconomy has specific funding needs. Finnish investor Niklas von Weymarn, CEO of the Metsä Spring venture capital firm and member of the BIC Governing Board, calls the bio-based industries sector a “strange animal”, in that it is built around capital expenditure on factories, biorefineries and other infrastructure. That kind of large funding is hard to secure through research grants, which is why equity investments help, since they increase the amount of cash that’s available upfront.

Wolfgang Burtscher, Deputy Director-General, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission

Fabio Fava (left), Professor, University of Bologna

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Infrastructure needed in the bioeconomy is different from other areas targeted by EU research funding, such as software, where running costs – or operational expenditure — are more important. “It’s quite different from, for instance, the gaming industry, where you just buy a laptop, some software licenses, and then some cloud space and you are in business,” said Weymarn. “That’s not so easy in our line of work,” he said.

A lot of money is needed upfront for farmers to begin supplying biomass fuels, which can take longer than in “the petrochemical industry, where you have the oil coming from the refineries,” Weymarn added.

With the gains that have been made, Nelo Emerencia, director of programming with the Bio-based Industries Consortium, predicts the public’s knowledge of the bioeconomy will grow rapidly in the coming years.

“Ten to 15 years ago people would look at you like you’re crazy if you talked about climate action. Now people feel the need to because they don’t want their houses to get flooded or go on fire. It’s a topic for around the dinner table, and the same will happen with the bioeconomy,” he said.

Nelo Emerencia (right), Director of Programming, Bio-based Industries Consortium

The Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium. Operating under Horizon 2020, this EU body is driven by the Vision and Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA)

developed by the industry.

About BBI JU