Last Tuesday, on October 10th, a working group of representatives from regional and local authorities came together to discuss the main governance and financing challenges related to the transition to biobased circular systems. The session also included valuable contributions from other EU projects on circular economy, research and technology institutes, and bioeconomy clusters.
The working group took place in a hybrid format, with some participants physically present at the ACR+ offices in Brussels and others joining online. The session featured presentations on the BIOTRANSFORM project and the Andalusian circular bioeconomy strategy, which were delivered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Afterward, the participants shared their thoughts on the main barriers to the circular bioeconomy transition from a governance and financing perspective on a dedicated Miro board.
There was active participation and contributions from the audience, and among the key bioeconomy governance challenges, some of the major ones identified included the difficulty of involving different political representatives from various policy departments and the lack of knowledge and tools for establishing a bioeconomy strategy. The intermittent supply of side stream materials for processing and investor scepticism toward unproven businesses were also mentioned as significant financing challenges.
This working session marks the first step in the creation of technical transition guidelines for public authorities, which will list effective governance and financing instruments for transitioning to a circular bio-based system.
The working group will convene twice more throughout the project's duration to gather concrete feedback on the tools and methodologies developed by the project, ensuring they effectively address the needs of policymakers.
