CEPF looks forward to the arrival of the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy. A new, coherent policy framework, at the heart of the EU policy landscape is instrumental to strengthen the position of primary production within the forest-based value chain. A decentralised, circular and competitive bioeconomy enhances the sustainable transition of the European economy and supports Europe's strategic autonomy at the same time. The new Strategy is a unique opportunity to design policies to utilise the benefits of the forest-based bioeconomy to its full extent which would also mean acknowledging and taking into account the substitution effects of the whole range of forest-based products for meaningful climate change mitigation.
Forest owners understand that the long-term provision of biomass relies on healthy, resilient forest ecosystems, which is why biodiversity is a core element of active sustainable forest management.
A streamlined coherent and simple regulatory environment is key to deploy forestry's full potential to deliver on the economic, environmental and societal pillars of sustainability in an equal manner. Therefore, the emphasise should be on the implementation of existing sustainability criteria and not on the introduction of new ones.
