Europe’s transition to a climate-neutral and resource-efficient economy is accelerating the demand for biomass not only for food and materials, but increasingly for biofuels and bioenergy as fossil alternatives are phased out. This surge in biomass demand places significant pressure on terrestrial ecosystems, which are already strained by intensive agriculture, forestry, land-use change, and biodiversity loss.

At the same time, the EU has made strong and binding commitments to protect and restore nature, including targets under the Nature Restoration Law, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, and various global agreements such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. These parallel ambitions, to scale up biomass use while safeguarding natural ecosystems, demand a more strategic and diversified approach to sourcing, while reducing consumption of land-based biomass.

In this context, Bellona responded to the consultation on the revised Bioeconomy strategy.

Bellona recommends:

• That the new EU bioeconomy strategy establishes a biomass hierarchy to ensure the best use of bioresources. Food waste should preferably be used for high-value products such as feed.
• That the EU set a goal to increase macroalgae production and introduce measures to stimulate market uptake by 2030. Europe needs more low-trophic aquaculture (LTA) to produce marine biomass for food, feed and biofuels. LTA delivers multiple environmental co-benefits.
• That bioeconomy policy is aligned with biodiversity and climate commitments, including the Nature Restoration Law and EU Biodiversity Strategy, to avoid land-use conflicts and ensure biomass is used sustainably and efficiently, based on ecological limits and robust carbon accounting.