The bio-based industries – key to the green recovery
Calling for a stronger recognition of the bio-based sector
Dear Executive First Vice-President Timmermans,
Dear Commissioner Wojciechowski,
Dear Commissioner Gabriel,
Dear Commissioner Ferreira,
Dear Commissioner Sinkevičius,
Dear Commissioner Breton,
Europe is undergoing an unprecedented crisis and the impacts are felt in all aspects of our daily lives. While our society is facing challenging times, the bio-based industries welcome the immediate reaction from the European Commission to formulate a common response to the crisis and its economic consequences.
With about 700 billion EUR turnover and 3.6 million people employed, the bio-based industries are helping to alleviate the impact of the crisis by keeping essential services running and maintaining green jobs. Our companies are providing much-needed supplies such as food and feed ingredients, (compostable) packaging, hand sanitisers, masks, tissues, and energy from renewable feedstock.
The future impacts of the crisis are unpredictable. What is predictable, however, is that climate change will not halt if we do not take action. Reducing Europe’s dependency on fossil-based resources, sustaining healthy ecosystems and reaching the climate neutrality goal will require better integration across sectors to create more circular and innovative bio-based solutions. To quote President von der Leyen, the European Green Deal is “an opportunity to rebuild our economies differently and make them more resilient”.
The bio-based sector can help by turning the crisis into new opportunities for green growth and by being a strong partner in the EU’s green economic recovery. We are integrating ‘traditional’ industrial sectors into innovative value chains in making the European bioeconomy the global leader. We sustainably use domestic renewable feedstock from agriculture, forestry and fisheries as well as residues and bio-waste, and process it in state-of-the-art biorefineries to provide bio-based solutions for our customers and consumers. We help to improve food security, foster circularity, stimulate rural development and maintain green jobs in EU regions.
It is necessary to build on the positive impacts of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) and to fully implement the EU Bioeconomy Strategy. To enable our industry to fully deploy its potential, the European Green Deal should better recognise the importance of the bioeconomy and support the private-public partnership ‘Circular Bio-based Europe’. Only together can private and public sectors ensure that economic recovery and green growth go hand in hand. Our companies are committed to investing in circular and innovative bio-based solutions in Europe, paving the way to a more sustainable and resilient future. |
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ADM EMEA
Ismael Roig
President |
AEP Polymers
Alan Patrick Giles
CEO |
Algae 4 Future
Nuno Coelho
CEO |
| AlgaEnergy S.A
Augusto Rodríguez-Villa Matons
President |
API Europe MEPE
Theodora Retsina
CEO |
Arbiom
Marc Chevrel
President |
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BE-Basic Foundation
Abraham Brouwer
Managing Director |
Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
Wim Soetaert
CEO |
BioEconomy Cluster
Matthias Zscheile
CEO |
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Bio-Mi
Filip Miketa
CEO |
Biosphere S.r.l
Mario Riciputi
Chairman of the Board |
Biotrend
Bruno Sommer Ferreira
CEO |
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BioVale
Sarah Hickingbottom
CEO |
Borregaard
Per Arthur Sørlie
President and CEO |
Capax Biobased Development
Bart Tambuyser
CEO |
| Cellicon
Ton Runneboom
CEO |
Celtic Renewables Ltd.
Mark Simmers
CEO |
Centro Ricerche per la Chimica Fine S.r.l
Samuele Giovando
CEO |
| ChainCraft
Niels van Stralen
Co-founder and Director |
Circular Biobased Delta
Willem Sederel
Chairman of the Board |
Clariant
Hariolf Kottmann
Executive Chairman |
| CLIB – Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie
Dennis Herzberg
Managing Director and Cluster Manager |
CLIC Innovation Oy
Jatta Jussila
CEO |
Consorzio Italbiotec
Diego Bosco
CEO |
| Corbion
Olivier Rigaud
CEO |
Cosun
Albert Markusse
CEO |
CTA – Corporación Tecnológica de Andalucía
Elias Atienza
CEO |
| Dutch Biorefinery Cluster
Ger Willems
Chair of the Board |
EnginZyme
Karim Engelmark Cassimjee
CEO |
Evonik Industries
Ulrich Küsthardt
CIO |
| Fertinagro Biotech
Jose Luis Moya
CEO |
FiberLean Technologies Ltd
Paris Kyriacopoulos
CEO |
Flanders’ Food
Inge Arents
Managing Director |
| Fortum Oyj
Pekka Lundmark
President and CEO |
Glanbia Ireland DAC
Jim Bergin
CEO |
Graanul Invest AS
Raul Kirjanen
CEO |
| GreenWin
Véronique Graff
Managing Director
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IAR, the French Bioeconomy Cluster
Yvon Le Hénaff
Chairman of the Board |
IBioIC
Mark Bustard
CEO |
| InnovEn S.r.l
Fausto Tagliaferro
President |
Irish Bioeconomy Foundation
Stephen Napier
CEO |
Kaneka Europe Holding Company NV and Kaneka Belgium NV
Shinji Mizusawa
President |
| LanzaTech Inc.
Jennifer Holmgren
CEO |
MBio, Innovation arm of Monaghan Mushrooms
Peter Corcoran
CEO |
Metabolic EXplorer
Benjamin Gonzalez
CEO |
| MetGen Oy
Alex Michine
CEO |
Metsä Group
Ilkka Hämälä
President and CEO |
Natac Biotech SL
Antonio Delgado
CEO |
| Neste Corp.
Peter Vanacker
President and CEO |
Norske Skog Golbey
Yves Bailly
Managing Director |
Nova Pangaea Technologies (UK) Ltd
Sarah Ellerby
Chief Executive
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| Novamont S.p.A
Catia Bastioli
CEO |
Novozymes
Ester Baiget Arnau
CEO |
OLEON SAS
Moussa Naciri
President |
| Process Design Centre
Hans Keuken
Managing Director |
Royal DSM
Dimitri de Vreeze
Co-CEO & Managing Board Member |
Sappi Europe SA
Berend John Wiersum
CEO |
| Södra
Peter Karlsson
President/CEO |
Stora Enso
Annica Bresky
President and CEO |
Südzucker
Thomas Kirchberg,
COO & Member of the Executive Board |
| SUSPACC
Bart Labrie
President |
Unilever
Peter ter Kulve
President, Home Care |
UPM Kymmene Corporation
Jussi Pesonen
President and CEO |
