BDC supports new BioRevolution Coalition aimed at unlocking the UK’s multi-trillion-pound bioeconomy
BDC supports a new campaign – convened by the Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA) and backed by MPs from across the House – that calls on the Government to level the playing field for UK bio-based industries, warning that the UK is the only G7 nation without a national bioeconomy strategy.
BDC supports a new cross-party campaign – the BioRevolution Coalition – launched on the 9 June, which calls on the UK Government to back British bio-based industries and end the policy bottleneck holding back one of the country’s most promising growth sectors. At its heart is a public petition on the UK Parliament’s petitions website, urging a coordinated review of the tax, regulation and waste rules that currently leave home-grown bio-based solutions more expensive than the fossil-based products they could replace.
Convened by the BBIA (the Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association), the UK’s trade body for the bioeconomy, the Coalition brings together hundreds of organisations to create the largest single voice for the bio-based sector – uniting citizens, industry and parliamentarians behind a shared mission to accelerate the UK bioeconomy.
A multi-trillion-pound opportunity
Bio-based solutions are everyday products - plastics, textiles, chemicals, fuels, food and packaging - made from renewable biological resources such as plants, microbes and agricultural waste, rather than fossil oil and gas. Globally, the bioeconomy is projected to be worth more than £30 trillion by 2050, and ‘engineering biology’, a key tool in the manufacture of bio-based solutions, is named as one of six frontier technologies in the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy. In the UK, the sector already supports more than 1,200 businesses, generated £12.5 billion in revenue in 2024 and employs over 20,000 people.
The Coalition points to research showing that switching just 30% of UK chemical-industry feedstock to biomass could generate up to £204 billion in annual UK revenue and save more than 5.2 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent each year.
… but the UK is falling behind
The Government has committed £2 billion over ten years to engineering biology and the wider bioeconomy - yet fewer than one in ten of the publicly funded bio-based innovations reach commercial production in the UK. The Coalition argues the science is proven and deployable now; the bottleneck is policy. Current tax, regulatory and waste rules can make bringing bio-based solutions to market around 45% slower and twice as expensive as a fossil-based equivalent. Recent independent research estimates this costs the UK more than 4,000 skilled jobs and £300–500 million in economic value every year.
The UK is the only G7 nation without a current coherent national bioeconomy strategy, having withdrawn its Growing the Bioeconomy strategy in 2021 and not replaced it. By contrast, 22 European countries have adopted or are developing dedicated strategies, the United States mandates federal procurement of more than 7,000 certified bio-based products, and Japan is targeting a £500 billion bioeconomy market by 2030.
Dr Jen Vanderhoven, Chief Executive of the BBIA said,
The UK has all the ingredients to be a global bioeconomy leader: world-class science, innovative businesses, abundant biological resources and growing demand for sustainable products. Yet while other nations are building strategies to capture this opportunity, the UK remains the only G7 country without a coherent national bioeconomy plan. The BioRevolution Coalition has come together because the technology is ready, the businesses are ready, and the economic opportunity is enormous. Bio-based industries can strengthen supply chains, create high-value jobs across every region of the UK, attract investment, and reduce our dependence on imported fossil resources. But too many British innovations are being held back by outdated policy frameworks that make it harder and more expensive to bring bio-based products to market. Our five-point plan is practical, achievable and focused on unlocking growth. We are calling on Government to create the conditions for success so that more British discoveries are manufactured, scaled and commercialised here in the UK. This is not simply an environmental opportunity; it is an industrial opportunity, an economic opportunity and a national resilience opportunity. We urge businesses, citizens and parliamentarians to support the petition and help build a thriving UK bioeconomy.
A five-point plan for government
The Coalition is calling on the Government to:
- Name a government lead - a single Minister of State with end-to-end accountability for the bioeconomy, mirroring the arrangements for net zero and space.
- Fix the policy and tax mismatches - so that policy, regulation and taxation account for where a product’s carbon comes from, not just what happens to it at end of life.
- Align carbon accounting - adopting a common standard for comparing bio-based and fossil-based solutions.
- Use public procurement - starting with an NHS pilot for bio-based solutions in high-volume single-use products, to create the early markets that bring costs down.
- Back first-of-a-kind biomanufacturing plants - with co-funded scale-up capital through the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank.
Cross-party support in Parliament
The campaign is supported by champions from across the House of Commons, including George Freeman FRSG FRSA MP, (Conservative), UK Trade Envoy, former Minister of State for Science & Technology, Dep Chair of Science & Technology Select Committee and Rachael Maskell MP (Labour), with backing also from Lord Markham.
George Freeman FRSG FRSA MP said,
The UK is a global leader in engineering biology and advanced manufacturing, but too often we invent the technologies of the future, only to watch them scale overseas. If we are serious about being a science and technology superpower, we must do more to turn British innovation into British industry, jobs and exports. I’m proud to have helped secure engineering biology as a priority technology for UK Government with a £2bn 10yr R+D program. The next step is ensuring that investment translates into commercial success by creating a clear, joined-up framework for the bioeconomy - from biorefineries to skills, regulation, procurement & global trade & investment. The BioRevolution Coalition is rightly highlighting a key opportunity for UK innovation, industrial leadership, global investment & tech transfer & geopolitical supply chain security. It deserves serious attention from policymakers across government.
How to support the campaign
Members of the public can support the campaign by signing the petition on the UK Parliament petitions website petition.parliament.uk and can find out more at biorevolution.uk.
About the BioRevolution Coalition. The BioRevolution Coalition is a nation-wide campaign convened by the BBIA, uniting citizens, industry and parliamentarians behind a shared mission to accelerate the UK bioeconomy. “Bio-based solutions” refers to everyday products - industrial chemicals, materials, food, fuels and feed - made from renewable biological resources rather than fossil oil and gas. The campaign concerns the industrial bioeconomy, not human-health medicines.
About the BBIA. The Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA) is the UK trade body for the bioeconomy and the convenor of the BioRevolution Coalition. It works with government, policymakers, industry and academia to champion the bioeconomy and accelerate the adoption of bio-based solutions.
Let's work together
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