Valorisation of untapped forest biomass

Successful proposals will contribute to the implementation of the EU Forest Strategy for 2030, the EU Biodiversity strategy 2030, the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Regulation, the Carbon Removal Certification Framework Regulation, and the EU Nature Restoration Law.

Projects results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:

• Enhanced contribution of the forest-based sector to climate change mitigation and adaptation, forest restoration and resilience, biodiversity, and rural development objectives.
• Added value to the feedstock at the point of origin with optimised transportation and logistics costs throughout the value chain.
• Informed decision-making by forest owners and managers adopting sustainable forest management practices and novel technologies to better valorise unused and underutilised biomass.
• Development of new value chains, innovative business models and technologies resulting in novel bio-based chemicals, compounds, materials, and products from unused and/or underutilised forest biomass.
• Increased engagement and innovation capacity of regional and local actors, as well as positive social impact in rural areas. This includes additional sources of income for forest owners and managers, and rural actors through increased synergies with bio-based industries.

Forest managers often face challenges in implementing more sustainable practices. Additional value can be gained from forestry (both monocultured and mixed forests), agroforestry and horticulture as well as from their residual streams, and from the biomass removed for fire, flood, drought, and disease prevention. Valorisation of such biomass streams can contribute to address the risk of forest abandonment while preserving biodiversity. This is particularly important where the resulting forest or forest-like biomass is low in volume, value, or both. The available biomass mainly consists of small wood, damaged wood (e.g., wood affected by parasites), and various types of wood from mixed forests. Additionally, it includes non-wood biomass, such as shrubs, bark, cork, branches, and resin. These kinds of biomass generally have low or even negative economic value, meaning they often need to be disposed of at a cost. Typically, this biomass is burned locally for energy or simply incinerated, releasing CO₂ into the atmosphere and providing little or no economic benefit to forest managers. This topic should explore valorisation pathways for the targeted feedstock beyond bioenergy and biofuel production.

Proposals under this topic should:

• Develop innovative planning tools and technologies for harvesting, storage, pre-treatment of residual and/or low value, unused or underutilized forest biomass or lower volume or/and less homogeneous biomass. Adopt decentralised approaches, including small-scale, mobile, containerised units, that consider the unique challenges across different European regions and among large, medium-sized, and small companies.
• Develop and test the feasibility of conversion routes to bio-based chemicals and compounds, materials, products, assessing the viability of new business models around these concepts.
• Test the local value chain by optimising logistics, improving cost efficiency, and collaborating with central hubs for further processing and refining. Actively involve local forest owners, managers, and other primary sector operators (e.g., farmers, horticulturists) to develop and test novel value chains in pilot areas.
• Address the feasibility for different ownership types and cooperative structures to ensure alignment with value-chain cooperation.

In addition to the specific requirements applicable for the type of action, as described in section 2.2.3.1 of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2025^[1], proposals under this topic should:

• Provide recommendations for the development of EU carbon farming certification methodologies for the unused and underutilised forest biomass in long-lasting products (e.g., through forest protection, afforestation, and sustainable forest management).
• As part of the Multi-Actor Approach (MAA), ensure adequate involvement of all key actors in the value chains relevant for this topic and across the sustainable circular biobased system, including feedstock providers, industrial players, consumers, advisors, and policy makers. Explore synergies with existing initiatives and networks, such as the Common Agricultural Policy and the European and national CAP, the EIP-AGRI and the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems.
• Go beyond the specific feedstock environmental sustainability requirements by actively preventing soil degradation and biodiversity and carbon loss during the extraction of previously unused or underutilized forest biomass. Additionally, safeguards should be implemented to differentiate between various forest types and management practices. Assess impact on soil quality and health.
• Ensure complementarities with past and ongoing R&I projects addressing similar challenges, including projects funded under Horizon 2020/ Horizon Europe and BBI/CBE JU.^[2]

[1] https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents

[2] For example, with BBI JU projects TECH4EFFECT and EFFORTE, CBE JU projects: OptiForValue, SingleTree, and call HORIZON-JU-CBE-2024-CSA-01 projects, and HORIZON-CL6- projects Small4Good and SMURF. The list is not exhaustive.