Once upon a time the bioeconomy was a “nice-to-have”: a perfunctory nod to making the world a bit greener. But today it’s not only necessary to solve some of our most serious climate challenges, it also offers heady financial returns.
Both vast and specific in its scope, the bioeconomy uses renewable biological resources from land and sea, like crops, forests, fish, animals and microorganisms to produce food, materials and energy.
“The bioeconomy contributes to both circular and low-carbon economies by replacing fossil-derived inputs with renewable, regenerative biological alternatives,” says Clara Martinez, head of external relations at bioeconomy-focused VC European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF). She sees the sector as a “strategic lever for Europe’s transition toward sustainable, sovereign and competitive industrial systems.”
Half of the World Economic Forum’s top 10 Global Risks over the next decade are linked to environmental concerns (including extreme weather events, pollution, growing populations and the loss of biodiversity) and in 2021, the bioeconomy generated €728bn and over 17m jobs in the EU.
So where do the opportunities lie?
Reusing waste/ Bio-based alternatives
Sophie Roelants is chief operating officer and cofounder of Belgian biotech Amphistar, one of ECBF’s portfolio companies. Through microbial fermentation, Amphistar converts locally sourced organic waste like unsold vegetables and used cooking oils into biosurfactants used across various industries, from personal care to agrochemicals — the stuff that makes your soap lather and your shampoo degrease. Launched in 2021, the company has raised €12m in seed funding.
Roelants says the market is currently saturated by synthetic surfactants produced from crude oil. She adds that companies which have introduced more mild biobased surfactants largely use palm oil — which when farmed at scale can cause deforestation and habitat loss.
There’s tonnes and tonnes and tonnes not being utilised right now.
According to the UN, around a third of food produced is either lost or wasted each year.“There are already systems to transform food waste into biogas and bioethanol in place in Europe. But this hasn’t been done for everything,” says Roelants.
Emil Munck de Voss, cofounder of Danish foodtech scaleup REDUCED, which was recently named one of Fast Company’s most innovative food companies of 2025, agrees that an opportunity lies in food waste.
“Globally, about 14% of all food wasted is considered food loss, occurring in the primary chain — at the farms and processing facilities,” he tells Sifted. “In Denmark, that number is even higher because we are a nation that produces and exports a lot of food — so there’s tonnes and tonnes and tonnes not being utilised right now.”
Founded in 2020, REDUCED turns food waste into additive-free taste solutions using koji fermentation (a type of fermentation made from grains and legumes, using a particular microscopic fungus) in three days. In 2024, ECBF invested in a €2m Series A, bringing the startup’s total funding to over €12.4m.
“What we can use for human consumption should be used for human consumption — that’s what we’re all about. That’s the beauty of biosolutions — it’s already out there. It’s just about putting it in the right context and combining it with the right technology,” says Munck de Voss. “What drives cost most of the time is the raw material, so we can deliver competitive prices by using things like carrot tops and specific parts of chicken wings not otherwise used.”
To date, REDUCED says it has upcycled over 150 tonnes of food. But Munck de Voss says its products do not skimp on taste, which he says is consumers’ number one concern.
Changing the system, not the market
Martinez says REDUCED and AmphiStar are examples of how “bio-based alternatives can scale without compromising supply chain security or profitability”, meaning both companies are more resilient to operational disruptions than their less sustainable counterparts, in the face of geopolitical tensions or trade policy uncertainty.
You can create something that is very hard to recreate, which creates immense amounts of value.”
For Roelants, this is why we need to better differentiate between bad chemicals and good ones.
“There is a clear difference in environmental impact between traditional surfactants and ours, so why are we measuring them the same way?” she asks. Recognising this difference requires governments to introduce punishments for companies which use fossil feedstock, she adds,and incentives for ones developing biosolutions: “There needs to be a consolidated approach and for this to happen, there needs to be legislation changes — everything else follows.”
Munck de Voss adds that with biosolutions “you don’t always have to do things that fit exactly into the current format” and with just “a few tweaks, you can create something that is very hard to recreate, which creates immense amounts of value.”
And Europe doesn’t have to move huge mountains to maximise on this mentality. Dimitri Koufos, head of sustainable business for industry, agribusiness and commerce at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development , stresses the competitiveness of Europe’s technological leadership.
“Most of the technologies in biofuels, biogas, biomethane, are EU and European technologies. If these technologies get bought out by a US or Chinese company, then we lose the technological importance that Europe has. I haven’t seen any technology from the US or China or anywhere else in the biospace that really will make a difference,” he says.
A European advantage
Martinez warns that with the rise of Asia as an industrial forerunner, increased investment into the bioeconomy “allows Europe to maintain its industrial capacity in future-critical areas such as advanced materials, food systems, biopharmaceuticals and biomanufacturing.”
The environment is still on lots of people’s radars.
But these pressures aren’t just brewing at a macro level. Aided by social media and the accountability it provides, consumers themselves are demanding companies do better. Munck de Voss tells Sifted that he had just read a report that found that the climate was the number one concern for voters in Denmark.
“Things may have changed since 2019 but the environment is still on lots of people’s radars,” he says.
For Koufos, the bioeconomy is the “most critical thing” for Europe, but his big question is: “How does Europe want to consider the bioeconomy, whether it’s biofuels, biochemicals or biogas, as a key strategic, independent, renewable, long-term source of energy?”
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/bioeconomy-europe-climate-brnd/
