The bioeconomy covers all sectors and systems that rely on biological resources (animals, plants, micro-organisms and derived biomass, including organic waste), their functions and principles. It includes and interlinks: land and marine ecosystems and the services they provide; all primary production, sectors that use and produce biological resources (agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture); and all economic and industrial sectors that use biological resources and processes to produce food, feed, bio-based products, energy and services. To be successful, the European bioeconomy needs to have sustainability and circularity at its heart. This will drive the renewal of our industries, the modernisation of our primary production systems, the protection of the environment and will enhance biodiversity.

The 2018 update of the Bioeconomy Strategy aims

• to accelerate the deployment of a sustainable European bioeconomy
• to contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and
• to help fulfilling the goals of the Paris Agreement.

It also responds to new European policy priorities, such as

• the renewed Industrial Policy Strategy,
• the Circular Economy Action Plan
• and the Communication on Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation, all of which highlight the importance of a sustainable, circular bioeconomy to achieve their objectives.

A related action plan formulates 14 concrete measures launched in 2019. They are based on three key priorities:

1. Strengthen and scale up the bio-based sectors, unlock investments and markets;
2. Deploy local bioeconomies rapidly across the whole of Europe;
3. Understand the ecological boundaries of the bioeconomy.

A Bioeconomy Strategy Progress report was published in 2022 as requested by the Council of the European Union. It assesses the progress made in the implementation of the strategy and its action plan, and identifies gaps for possible future EU bioeconomy action and initiatives.

No specific EU bioeconomy legislation exists. However, sectorial legislation, in many cases considerably older than the bioeconomy concept, has major impact in the field.

Bioeconomy (or bioeconomy-related) strategies also exist or are being developed

• in many of the EU Member States and their regions (see below);
• at international level (e.g. OECD bioeconomy agenda) and
• in many third countries (Source: German Bioeconomy Council and JRC research).