With LIFE (L'Instrument Financier pour l'Environnement), the European Union launched a programme in 1992 to promote innovation in environmental, nature and climate protection. Since then, more than 6,000 projects have received financial support across the EU, including projects in the bioeconomy sector. The starting signal for this year's funding round for the current LIFE period, which began in 2021 and runs until 2027, was given at the end of April.

Forests are both a carbon sink and a source of raw materials. However, the condition of trees has not only deteriorated in Germany. Aridity, drought and pests as well as large-scale deforestation in the tropics are jeopardising ecosystems worldwide and fuelling global warming. On 29 April 2025, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched BIOMASS, a satellite designed to monitor the Earth's green lungs.

The intensive use of agricultural land has placed a heavy burden on soils in north-west Europe. In many regions, the humus content is too low. As a result, soils are less able to store water, which increases the risk of erosion and flooding - and jeopardises food security in the long term.

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is a plastic based on fossil raw materials such as crude oil or natural gas. Although pure PET is fully recyclable, it often ends up in the environment or is incinerated. Biochemists Dr Christian Sonnendecker and Dr Ronny Frank are focusing instead on a biological recycling process using PHL7.

Packaging, whether plastic or paper, is an integral part of everyday life, but ends up in the bin after a short time. This wastes valuable resources. Instead of cutting down trees to obtain cellulose for the packaging industry, PAPACKS relies on industrial hemp. Founded in 2013, the Cologne-based company has now established its own supply chain for certified industrial hemp with Ukrainian Hemp, thereby securing access to the renewable raw material on an industrial scale.

A supermarket with a glass roof farm where fresh lettuce is produced: This vision of the future is now becoming a reality in the south of Berlin. At the end of March, the go-ahead was given for the construction of REWE's second green farming store in Germany on Maltester Straße in the Lankwitz district of Berlin. The supermarket of the future is due to open in spring 2026. With an area of 2,760 square metres, it will be the largest indoor farm in the capital.

Whether in food processing or agriculture, residues such as cereal straw, leaves or vegetable stalks usually end up as animal feed in troughs or fields. In Baden-Württemberg alone, this amounts to around 7.7 million tonnes per year. For the bioeconomy, these previously underutilised agricultural side streams can be a source of raw materials for new bio-based products and pave the way for a resource-efficient circular economy.

Soil is a vital resource, but is increasingly under threat. According to the European Soil Observatory (EUSO), around 76% of soils in Germany alone are degraded. Soil degradation has many causes: Erosion, intensive agriculture, monocultures, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and urbanization have all contributed to upsetting the balance in the soil - with serious consequences for agriculture, climate and nature.