The update of the European Bioeconomy Strategy places the agricultural sector at the heart of the energy and climate transition. Far from being a passive actor, agriculture emerges as a key biomass provider, a land manager and a provider of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration.

In this context, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is configured as a fundamental tool for articulating the bioeconomy within the territory and connecting agricultural production with sectors such as biomethane and digestate-derived fertilizers.

Balance between carbon sinks and biomass availability

The strategy explicitly recognizes the need to balance two objectives that can sometimes come into tension:

• The functioning of ecosystems as carbon sinks
• The need for an expanding bioeconomy, with sufficient long-term availability of primary biomass

This balance must be achieved within an appropriate hierarchy of biomass uses, avoiding negative impacts on ecosystems and guaranteeing the sustainability of the production system.

The CAP as a catalyst for the bioeconomy

In this framework, the CAP is conceived as a catalytic instrument to:

• Support farmers who adopt sustainable practices
• Boost innovation in the field of bioeconomy
• Facilitate the integration of primary producers into new value chains

The strategy points out that financing instruments must specifically reward farmers for adopting practices that improve the provision of ecosystem services and contribute to climate goals.

Ecosystem services and carbon sequestration

Among the highlighted ecosystem services are:

• The capture and sequestration of biogenic carbon
• Improving soil quality
• Sustainable management of bio-waste

These services are directly linked to the use of digestate-derived fertilizers, which allow for closing nutrient cycles and strengthening soil health, and to the supply of biomass for biomethane production.

The strategy proposes that financing mechanisms must integrate these benefits into economic logic, reinforcing the viability of agricultural practices aligned with the bioeconomy.

Agriculture, biomethane and territory

The integration of the agricultural sector into biomethane value chains allows for:

• Valorizing agri-livestock waste
• Producing local renewable energy
• Generating bio or organic fertilizers
• Strengthening territorial cohesion

This approach directly connects agriculture, energy and territory, and reinforces the role of the primary sector as a central actor in the energy transition and the European bioeconomy.

The new European Bioeconomy Strategy recognizes the agricultural sector as a fundamental pillar of the model, integrating the CAP, carbon sequestration and bio-waste valorization into a coherent and territorialized approach.

For biomethane and digestate-derived fertilizers, this framework opens significant opportunities to build sustainable value chains, aligned with the climate, agricultural and territorial objectives of the European Union.

In the next and final block, we will address the strategic implications for Spain in terms of market, regulation and competitiveness.

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