How can Europe make the most of its biological resources while meeting growing demands for climate action, biodiversity, food security, energy and economic development? These questions were at the centre of the June webinar of the State of Europe’s Forests 2025 webinar series. Bringing together experts from Sweden, France and Austria, the discussion explored how policy coherence, resource efficiency and cross-sectoral cooperation can support the transition to a sustainable and competitive bioeconomy.

Opening the webinar, moderator Camilla Widmark, Associate Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), highlighted that the bioeconomy extends far beyond biomass production. Forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including renewable raw materials, biodiversity, climate regulation, recreation and rural livelihoods. As demands on forest resources continue to grow, societies will increasingly need to balance competing objectives while making better use of synergies between them. Drawing on recent research, Widmark noted that many existing policy frameworks recognise these competing objectives but often provide limited guidance on how trade-offs should be managed in practice. She stressed the importance of policy coherence, circularity and considering the whole ecosystem when developing future bioeconomy policies.

“The bioeconomy is not limited by resources alone. It is limited by how coherently policies are aligned.“

While the presentations reflected different national approaches, several common themes emerged throughout the discussion. Cooperation across sectors and governance levels was a recurring topic, reflecting a shared recognition that the bioeconomy extends beyond individual industries and policy areas. Innovation, resource efficiency and collaboration also featured prominently.

National perspectives

Presenting France’s national bioeconomy strategy, Baptiste Meunier, Head of the Bioeconomy Unit at the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, described France’s broad approach, which considers interactions between agriculture, forestry, fishery, food, materials, energy and ecosystem services. As future biomass demand is expected to increase, he emphasised the importance of maintaining coherence across the whole system rather than considering individual sectors separately. France is strengthening this work through improved biomass data, modelling and coordination between public authorities, producers, industry and researchers.

From Sweden’s perspective, Linda Reinholdsson, Deputy Director at the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Infrastructure, described resource efficiency as a foundation of the bioeconomy. She highlighted that the bioeconomy supports several policy objectives, including climate action, competitiveness, rural development and preparedness. While the discussion focused on the forest-based bioeconomy, she also noted the importance of cross-sectoral cooperation. She pointed to Sweden’s forest value chains, where by-products and residues from one process become inputs to another, and stressed the importance of innovation, research, cross-sectoral cooperation and long-term, predictable conditions for the continued development of the forest-based bioeconomy. As one example, she described how excess heat from a pulp mill is used to heat a nearby tomato greenhouse, illustrating how circular resource flows and cooperation across sectors can improve resource efficiency.

Presenting Austria’s approach, Dr Georg Rappold, Director for Wood Policy, Bioeconomy and Innovation, highlighted initiatives at national, pan-European and global levels to strengthen collaboration and promote the forest-based bioeconomy. These include the Austrian Wood Initiative, the European Wood Policy Platform (WoodPoP) and the Country and Organization-led Initiative (COLI), together with the Vienna Call for Action adopted earlier this year. He emphasised collaboration, enabling conditions and partnerships as essential for advancing the bioeconomy. Summarising one of his key messages, Rappold noted:

”We need to broaden our perspective and recognize the bioeconomy not only as an environmental policy instrument, but also as a key component of industrial strategy.”

Looking ahead

The panel discussion focused on how to engage society in the bioeconomy transition and what is needed to achieve a sustainable and competitive bioeconomy in the years ahead. Several speakers noted that the concept of bioeconomy can appear abstract, making dialogue, stakeholder engagement and cooperation important for building understanding and trust. They also highlighted the value of existing cooperation platforms and the need to connect efforts across sectors and governance levels.

Looking ahead, Baptiste Meunier identified three priorities for Europe’s future bioeconomy: developing a realistic understanding of future biomass availability and demand, accelerating investment and industrial deployment by turning research and innovation into concrete projects and competitive value chains, and maintaining trust by involving stakeholders, creating value for primary producers and demonstrating tangible benefits on the ground. As he concluded:

“The bioeconomy will succeed if it remains concrete, competitive and grounded in real biomass resources.”

Closing the webinar, Camilla Widmark returned to one of the discussion’s central questions. Forests are expected to play a key role in Europe’s bioeconomy transition, but renewable resources remain limited. Continuing the dialogue on how to balance competing demands and make informed trade-offs will therefore remain an important task for policymakers, researchers and stakeholders alike.