The Joint Research Centre has published a report assessing the European market for bio-based chemicals, focusing on ten key product categories. The report was authored by BTG Consultancy.
The report found that, in general, the bio-based market is still relatively small. 4.7 Mt of bio-based chemicals are produced per year, which represents only about 3.0% of the total chemicals market.
The bio-based share of the market is not expected to grow rapidly in a business-as-usual scenario. Higher production costs make it hard to compete with fossil-based products in many market segments.
The report calls for policy measures, such as a fossil carbon tax, to be introduced to internalise the environmental costs resulting from petrochemical based products.
You can read the full report here.