A new Bioeconomy Investment Group is being set up to help Europe’s sustainable industries secure the funding they need to grow. The group aims to reduce financial risks for investors, create clear funding standards, and bring together public and private money.

Despite already supporting 17 million jobs and generating up to €2.7 trillion in economic value, many innovative bio-based projects struggle to secure financing at critical stages, such as moving from small-scale testing to full industrial production. This funding gap risks holding back Europe’s ability to turn scientific breakthroughs in biotechnology and sustainable materials into real-world industries.  

To fix this, the European Commission and the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) have brought together European banks, national promotional institutions, venture capital funds and institutional investors to create the Bioeconomy Investment Deployment Group (BIDG).  

This week’s event in Brussels formally launched the process leading to the Deployment Group’s first plenary in June 2026 and the submission of its 2026–2029 work plan to the CBE JU Governing Board.  

Why is this needed?

Europe leads in bioeconomy research, yet the European Investment Bank Group’s recent study, Scaling up Europe’s bio-based industries, confirms that the sector suffers from structural financing gaps at the most capital-intensive stages of the innovation curve: pilot to demonstration, and demonstration to first-of-a-kind industrial deployment and commercialisation. 

These are the stages where conventional project finance underestimates risk. Venture capital checks are too small, and grants run dry. This creates a persistent valley of death. It traps Europe’s ability to convert its scientific leadership in biotechnology and sustainable materials into industrial capacity,  at the very moment global rivals deploy aggressive industrial-finance tools to attract bio-based manufacturing.

Instead of just talking about solutions, the BIDG will focus on four key areas that match the funding process:

1. Designing better financing instruments. The work will be on blended-finance architectures, risk-sharing facilities and guarantee instruments tailored to long-duration bio-based projects. It will feed directly into the design of future EU financing frameworks, including instruments under the European Competitiveness Fund, Scale Up Fund and other EU funding instruments. 

2. Building a bankable project pipeline. The Deployment Group will develop a common understanding of project bankability aspects, shared due diligence standards, and governance for a database of investment-ready projects. The objective is to shorten origination cycles and enable the formation of financing consortia for large-ticket first-of-a-kind deployments. 

3. Improve transparency by monitoring and reporting. The work will include a digital eligibility checker aligned with existing sustainability and taxonomy frameworks, together with methodologies for tracking capital flows into the sector, addressing a persistent data gap that has hindered portfolio construction and benchmarking. 

4. Connecting industry and investors. Linking bio-based scale-ups with financial institutions and corporates matched by ticket size, risk appetite and sectoral focus will be the focus of the workstream. 

What investors and banks called for

The discussions during this week’s meeting highlighted three priorities that will shape the work plan: 

• Standardised contracts and criteria: Simplifying documents and agreements to make it easier for multiple investors to team up.
• Long-term, patient funding: Recognising that bio-based industrial projects typically require more time and layered risk mitigation than conventional green-finance projects.
• Visibility and signalling: More communication on Europe’s bioeconomy plans as emerging from the EU Bioeconomy Strategy and the forthcoming Biotech Act II. 

Who’s involved and who’s missing

The group already includes the European Investment Bank Group, national promotional banks, specialist venture and growth-equity funds with mandates in industrial decarbonisation.

The breadth of interest reflects a shared recognition that no single institution can carry the sector alone, and that coordinated action is the fastest route to deployable capital. 

However, key segments of the European financial ecosystem remain underrepresented at this stage. Participation from national promotional banks beyond early frontrunners remains uneven, while large commercial banks have yet to engage at scale on bio-based industrial deployment.

Equally, major institutional investors, notably pension funds and insurance companies, are not yet present, despite their capacity to provide the long-term, patient capital required for first-of-a-kind projects. 

Expanding participation from these institutions will be crucial to unlocking the billions in private investment required to grow Europe’s bioeconomy.  

Next steps

• June 2026: First plenary meeting to develop the 2026–2029 work plan
• 2026–2029: Delivery of the agreed work plan

Financial institutions interested in participating in the Deployment Group are invited to engage with the Commission ahead of the first meeting by email: ENV-BIOECONOMY-STRATEGYec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ENV-BIOECONOMY-STRATEGY[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu); DEPLOYMENT [dot] GROUPcbe [dot] europa [dot] eu (DEPLOYMENT[dot]GROUP[at]cbe[dot]europa[dot]eu) 

Background

The EU’s Bioeconomy Strategy aims to accelerate the transition to a circular, climate-neutral economy by scaling up the sustainable use of biological resources and strengthening Europe’s industrial base.

A key challenge remains the limited deployment of innovative bio-based solutions, often held back by high capital needs, technological risk, and fragmented access to finance. 

To address this gap, the Commission is setting up a Bioeconomy Investment and Deployment Group, bringing together public and private financial actors, including the European Investment Bank, to improve coordination and mobilise investment.

The group will focus on developing a stronger pipeline of bankable projects, identifying barriers to scale-up, and supporting the uptake of bio-based innovations across sectors. 

The initiative complements existing EU funding programmes such as Horizon Europe and the Innovation Fund, contributing to the objectives of the European Green Deal.  

More information

Bioeconomy Strategy | European Commission 

EIB Report: Scaling up Europe’s bio-based industries | European Investment Bank