The target is set out in the Bioeconomy Innovation Strategy for the European Fibres, Textiles, and Apparel Industry, published on 22 September by Textile ETP’s Circular & Biobased Textiles Innovation Hub.
The primary-source industry strategy was launched at the fourth ECOSYSTEX Conference in Antwerp after being developed between February and August with experts from across the European biotextile value chain.
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The document presents the transition as a response to three pressures: rising fossil dependence, supply-chain exposure and the need to improve competitiveness. It says increasing global per-capita fibre consumption is being met almost entirely by additional fossil synthetics.
It also states that more than 90% of global polyester capacity is located in Asia, with other man-made fibres following a similar pattern. As a result, Europe is increasingly dependent on a small number of non-European suppliers for strategic textile materials, according to the strategy.
The competitiveness case is linked to the EU Bioeconomy Strategy and the upcoming Biotech Act II. Textile ETP argues that biomaterial and bioprocess innovation could give EU-based manufacturers new opportunities for competitive advantage and intellectual-property differentiation.
Textile ETP president Marina Crnoja-Cosic said: “Europe’s textile bioeconomy is not only a sustainability opportunity, it is an industrial opportunity. Reversing decades of rising fossil dependence can strengthen competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy, while creating new industrial value and high-quality jobs. The choice is ours.”
The roadmap is structured around four interconnected layers, covering feedstock, bio-processing and refining, fibre and material production, and markets, demand and end-of-life.
It highlights five main building blocks: biobased feedstock and biorefinery processes, sustainable man-made cellulosic fibres, biosynthetics and novel biopolymer fibres, sustainably sourced natural fibres, and biochemistry and biobased processing.
Textile ETP has also developed a quantitative model covering EU-27 textile fibre consumption from 2000 to 2050.
The model examines seven end markets and 11 fibre types under three scenarios: business as usual, a circular biobased pathway, and an aggressive bioeconomy pathway.
Under the first scenario, the fossil share of Europe’s fibre base continues to rise while industrial competitiveness declines.
The second combines investment in recycling, bioeconomy innovation and capacity with balanced incentives, while the third assumes a concentrated push towards biomanufacturing and biobased materials and processes.
The strategy calls for an outcome between the latter two scenarios. It says renewable materials should form the majority of EU fibre consumption by 2050, with the value chain that produces them anchored in Europe.
The document associates that pathway with the potential mobilisation of tens of billions of euros annually across the EU value chain and tens of thousands of direct jobs.
The blueprint put forward 10 recommendations for EU policymakers, combining supply-side actions such as recognition, research funding, and expanding biorefinery capacity with demand-side measures like public procurement, legislation, and reliable sustainability claims.
The strategy says both strands must reach the small and medium-sized enterprises that form the sector’s industrial backbone.
It also outlines five actions that require collaboration across the value chain. These include establishing regional bio-manufacturing hubs, creating links between agriculture, forestry, pulp and paper, chemicals, biotechnology, and textiles, developing common methods, standards and traceability for biobased materials and processes, forming demand-side coalitions supported by green public procurement and reliable off-take agreements, and building a pan-European skills and talent pipeline.
Implementation strategies for the recommendations are due to be developed during the remainder of 2026 and into 2027, with Textile ETP inviting interested stakeholders to participate.
