Europe’s chemical industry has long been a cornerstone of its industrial strength, underpinning competitiveness across integrated value chains from basic materials to high-value specialized products. Today, this backbone is undergoing profound change. While the traditional chemical sector has faced persistent challenges since 2022, new opportunities driven by the bioeconomy need to be seized.
Paving the way for an innovative and future-oriented industrial policy
A competitive Europe powered by renewable solutions
The future of the chemical industry in Europe will depend on preserving a strong backbone of industrial production while innovating technologies and products that secure growth and competitiveness. Renewable chemical solutions are one option to offer Europe the chance to safeguard a strong chemical industry and push for the needed shift towards a renewable circular economy as the engine of a resilient and future-oriented European industry.
"Europe has the technology, the global champions, and a long standing know-how for the chemical sector to thrive. What it lacks today are the market signals and coherent policies to unlock scale and give confidence to the European industry to invest in its future. Renewable solutions and circularity are the twin engines driving prosperity, resilience, and strategic autonomy. They are essential to revitalize Europe’s industrial base and reclaim leadership for its chemical sector.“
Harald Dialer
Executive Vice President Technology & UPM Biorefining
Our main asks for a strategic industrial policy powered by renewable solutions
Stimulate market demand through ambitious binding targets for renewable solutions in product legislation
To speed up circularity and decarbonization, Europe needs to complement upcoming or existing recycled-content quotas with binding targets for renewable solutions in key initiatives such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Setting clear minimum shares under robust sustainability criteria gives investors certainty, boosts sustainable value creation, and will help reinforce the chemical sector.
By lifting renewable solutions to a key requirement in product legislation, Europe can secure materials for its industries and support its climate and competitiveness goals.
Secure sustainable access to biomass
Europe needs to secure biomass accessibility and lead in defining the boundaries of biomass consumption through easy to adopt and firm standards. Leveraging proven voluntary certification schemes is an important vehicle to ensure that feedstock choices remain market-driven and sustainable.
Securing sustainable biomass supply in regulated materials markets
Leveraging the potential of biomass, enhance European competitiveness
Recognize biorefineries as strategic assets
Biorefineries must be recognized as critical infrastructure and strategic assets for Europe’s future reducing fossil dependence, helping Europe to decarbonize, creating high-value jobs, strengthening resilience by securing feedstock supplies and catalyzing innovation.
Industry relevance
A 10% bioplastics target in PPWR is essential to drive investment, cut emissions, and secure Europe's bioeconomy
A truly circular economy is not only about recycling, it’s about reducing emissions, enhancing competitiveness, and building resilient supply chains. While reduce-reuse-recycle strategies are vital, they will not eliminate Europe's dependence on virgin plastic. Even under the most ambitious circularity scenarios, Europe will still require up to 28 million tons of virgin plastics annually to meet demand.
Packaging alone accounts for 21 million tons of plastic use in Europe.
While recycled content is on track to exceed 10% and could triple by 2040 under the PPWR, this alone is not enough to decarbonize the sector or eliminate fossil dependency.
Introducing a minimum 10% mandatory bioplastics target under PPWR is a strategic opportunity to:
- Accelerate industrial decarbonization
- Reduce reliance on fossil-based feedstocks
- Stimulate demand and investment in Europe’s bioeconomy
- Strengthen supply chain resilience without overburdening biomass availability
Recent data from UPM Biorefining shows that incorporating bioplastics in PET bottles can reduce carbon emissions by up to 40%, with only a marginal cost increase of less than one cent per bottle, a small price for a climate-smart transition.
It’s time for policy to catch up with innovation. A complementary 10% bioplastics target in PPWR is not just feasible, it’s necessary.
Textiles can’t wait: mandate minimum 30% circular and renewable synthetic fibers by 2030 to break the polyester bottleneck
The reality is clear: Europe's textile sector is still stuck in a linear system.
Today, 60% of textile fibers are synthetic, with polyester dominating the market. Yet only 12% of polyester is made from recycled material 99% of that from plastic bottles, not textile waste.
True textile-to-textile recycling remains a vision, not a reality, due to lagging infrastructure, poor collection systems, and low investment. While building circular recycling systems will take at least 10 years, bio-based solutions are available now, ready to reduce emissions, drive innovation, and build a truly circular textile economy in Europe.
A minimum mandatory 30% circular and renewable share in synthetic fibers by 2030 under ESPR would:
- Cut reliance on fossil feedstocks
- Kickstart sustainable value chains and green jobs in Europe
- Ease the growing competition between packaging and textile sectors for recycled plastics
- Deliver climate impact now, not a decade from today
The future of textiles must be renewable and truly circular - and it starts with a target.
Drive down emissions: smarter eco-design for tires starts with carbon footprint reduction and certified sustainability performance
The future of tires must be built on technical and sustainability performance.
As the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) expands to include tires, it must focus on the parameters that truly drive sustainability:
- Lower carbon footprint through performance improvements and low-carbon materials
- Certified sustainable materials (e.g. FSC, PEFC, ISCC PLUS) empower manufacturers to make smarter, traceable choices
To scale climate-friendly tire innovation, ESPR must enable a sound business case supported by transparent carbon accounting, clear eco-design benchmarks, and credible sustainability standards.
We call for:
- Eco-design criteria that prioritize low-carbon materials and certified sustainability performance
- A Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology that properly accounts for biogenic carbon as foundation for a scientific sound quantitative evaluation of eco-design performance
With the right regulatory push, Europe can drive investment in high-performance, low-impact tires and make sustainable mobility a reality.
Let’s put the right pressure on tires not the planet.