The recently published "EU Bioeconomy Strategy Progress Report" presents the state of play of the implementation of the 2018 updated Bioeconomy Strategy and Action Plan and the overall progress of the bioeconomy in Europe. In the report the Commission concludes that the actions are well on track and already contributed to the objectives of [...]
Why the EU’s Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act correctly lists bio-based plastics as “green investments” The Climate Delegated Act supplementing the Taxonomy Regulation clearly supports “plastics derived wholly or partially from renewable feedstock” as “substantially contributing to climate change mitigation”. In order to meet the European Union’s climate and energy targets for 2030 and reach [...]
Existing certification schemes to inspire EU plan for carbon removals The European Commission’s proposal to regulate the Union’s carbon removals market will be based on existing verification and certification schemes. It will further aim to create a common method in order to bring more transparency to the opaque sector, an EU official explained. The [...]
Nico Arbeck, Head of Department Material Use at C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V. Read below a guest article by Nico Arbeck, Head of Department Material Use at C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V. Final report available Together with nine partners, C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V. carried out the model project "Practical test of compostable bags – circular economy with compostable fruit and [...]
Forthcoming EU policy framework on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics With the public consultation phase now closed, the forthcoming EU policy framework on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics is nearing completion and is expected to be adopted in the second quarter of 2022. It is a crucial piece of legislation for the bioplastics industry, and [...]
Constance Ißbrücker, Head of Environmental Affairs at European Bioplastics e.V. The EU Plastics Strategy presented a vision where innovative materials and alternative feedstocks would ultimately replace fossil resources. In this context, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) was tasked in 2018 by the European Commission to elaborate an appropriate life cycle assessment (LCA)-based method to evaluate the potential environmental [...]
EUBPConf2021: multi stakeholder panel discussion on bioplastics and EU policy After last year’s 100 percent virtual format, the European Bioplastics Conference was finally able to re-open its gates in Berlin and welcomed around 140 participants. The other half of the overall 320 participants attended online. During the different conference sessions and in [...]
European bioeconomy robust as bio-based industry turnover jumps to 780 billion EUR The bio-based industries continue their ascent marking a total contribution of 780 billion EUR, a notable increase of 30 billion EUR (+ 4%) compared to 2017. This represents a more than 20% increase compared to 2008 which is the earliest data taken [...]
Berlin, 6 December 2021 – At the 16th annual European Bioplastics (EUBP) Conference, which took place from 30 November to 1 December in Berlin, industry experts discussed the role of bioplastics within the European Green Deal. The conference discussions confirmed that bioplastics make significant contributions to help achieving the European Union’s ambitious climate goals [...]
Berlin, 30 November 2021 – In June, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) published its methodology for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comparing the environmental impact of fossil-based to bio-based feedstocks for plastics production. “Together with other bio-based industries, we support LCAs as a valuable instrument to measure environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, the approach of the JRC in this study lacks important elements that are crucial for a fair, comparative assessment of bio-based and fossil-based plastics. As a result, it clearly favours conventional plastics made from fossil resources”, comments Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of European Bioplastics (EUBP). Over the past [...]
