The bioeconomy has the potential to reshape European industry—but only if it puts people first.

The Commission’s public consultation, titled “Towards a Circular, Regenerative, and Competitive Bioeconomy,” launched in April 2025, aims to guide the revision of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, set for release in the fourth quarter of this year. In its contribution to the consultation, industriAll Europe is urging the EU to adopt a coherent industrial policy that strengthens the ecosystem of bioeconomy industries and creates a reliable framework for investment. The strategy must prioritise developing, recruiting, and retaining workers.

“The bioeconomy has the potential to reshape European industry—but only if it puts people first,” said Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe. “We need a strategy that doesn’t just create new markets, but creates quality jobs, protects workers’ rights, and strengthens Europe’s industrial base. A fair transition means public money must come with social guarantees. No worker should be left behind.”

The bioeconomy - which uses renewable biological resources to produce materials like bioplastics, biofuels, textiles, chemicals, paper and more - is expanding rapidly. Yet despite its growing economic weight, employment in key sectors such as pulp and paper, bio-based textiles, and biochemicals is stagnating or even declining in some EU Member States.

What industriAll Europe Demands:

• A strong industrial policy that boosts investment, R&D, and infrastructure for the bioeconomy—while prioritising European-made products in public procurement.
• Greater support for industrial electrification and sustainable biomass use, to reduce CO₂ emissions without harming ecosystems or relying on harmful imports.
• Real promotion of circular economy models, including smart substitution of materials and industrial symbiosis between sectors.
• A clear recognition of planetary boundaries—fields, forests and seas cannot meet unlimited demand.
• Binding social conditionalities: Public funding must guarantee quality jobs, free training during working hours, collective bargaining, safe workplaces, and full respect for workers’ rights.
• An impact assessment to understand the strategy’s effect on jobs and industry in each Member State.