AAFT contributed to the European Commission consultation on the Biotech Act II, a flagship initiative intended to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in biotechnology. The legislation will only reach its full potential if food system transformation is treated as a core biotechnology objective rather than an afterthought.
A test of Europe’s biotechnology ambitions
Biotechnology is already reshaping how food can be produced. Advanced plant-based fermentation technologies offer credible pathways to produce proteins and ingredients with a fraction of the environmental footprint of conventional animal agriculture. Yet Europe’s regulatory framework continues to make innovations access to market unnecessarily slow and costly, undermining innovation and investment in the EU.
The Biotech Act II will also shape how biological resources are used across the European economy. New demand for crops and biomass from sectors such as chemicals, plastics and bio-based manufacturing could either support or undermine the transition to more sustainable food systems, depending on how the rules are designed. If food uses are overlooked, competition for agricultural resources could make it harder and more expensive to produce plant-based foods while reinforcing Europe’s dependence on resource-intensive animal production.
Similar questions arise with new genomic techniques. Biotechnology should be used to help build more sustainable farming systems, not to make animals better adapted to a system that compromise their welfare and health. Innovation should support the transition of food systems, rather than entrenching the problems they are meant to solve. This principle should also guide any future EU approach, ensuring that technological innovation complements rather than replaces improvements in animal welfare and farming practices.
Biotech Act II presents a rare opportunity to align industrial competitiveness, food innovation, biodiversity protection and animal welfare within a coherent framework. Europe should seize it. AAFT continues engaging with policymakers to ensure that the next generation of biotechnology policy supports a food system that is both innovative and sustainable.
