The Sustainable Futures Conference, co-organised by the Horizon Europe-funded projects BlueRev, Engage4Bio, BlueBioClusters, and SKILLBILL, underscored the importance of integrated, cross-sectoral collaboration in driving Europe’s green and just transition. The urgency of reducing dependence on material and energy imports is closely tied to the need to empower regional and local communities. These communities must be equipped to forge their own sustainable pathways towards resilience, climate neutrality, and long-term socio-economic prosperity.

While each project addresses distinct thematic areas, their shared experiences revealed that common challenges—such as resource autonomy, regional sustainability, and citizen engagement—are most effectively addressed through collaborative tools and synergistic approaches.

The conference highlighted that Horizon Europe projects can:

• Act as catalysts for dialogue among diverse stakeholders, including businesses, public authorities, and civil society.

• Emphasise local value creation and promote the co-design of solutions that enhance long-term impact and acceptability.

• Empower marginalised and underrepresented communities by equipping them with the tools to actively shape the green transition, fostering inclusive, bottom-up innovation.

• Increase citizen awareness of their role in influencing future markets, governance, and sustainability trends.

  Key Policy Recommendations

  Drawing on the outcomes and insights from the participating initiatives, the following policy recommendations are proposed to inform both EU and national policy development and programme design:

  1. Promote Synergistic and Multi-Project Approaches
  Encourage funding instruments that connect complementary projects across bioeconomy sectors, blue, green, circular, as well as renewable energy. Cross-project collaboration should be supported to enable the reuse of tools and methodologies, improve efficiency, and strengthen coherence across initiatives.

  2. Strengthen Stakeholder Engagement for Co-Creation
  Create structured platforms and provide incentives for inclusive multi-stakeholder collaboration. Involving SMEs from the early stages is critical for building viable, long-term business models. Likewise, the inclusion of municipalities and regional authorities ensures continuity through integration with local governance structures.

  3. Address Skills Gaps through Regional Training Ecosystems
  Support the development of tailored training programmes co-designed by companies, universities, and local actors to reflect territorial needs. Investments in Vocational Education and Training (VET) should be aligned with both market demands and regional sustainability goals.
  Specialised training for public bodies is also essential to equip decision-makers with the knowledge needed to adopt innovative solutions.

  Strengthening academia–industry collaboration is vital. While these sectors differ in focus, they are fundamentally complementary. Industry requires a skilled workforce with both theoretical and practical expertise, while universities gain from opportunities for hands-on training and alternative funding streams. Identifying shared goals can foster impactful partnerships and mutual benefits.

  There is also a pressing need to enhance gender inclusion in the renewable energy sector. Conference participants agreed on the need for communication strategies that challenge stereotypes, create welcoming environments, and empower women to thrive and contribute equally in science, technology, and innovation.

  4. Ensure Long-Term Sustainability of Project Tools
  Horizon Europe projects should be encouraged to integrate sustainable business models for the maintenance and development of digital tools and resources. Identifying potential future tool owners, such as SMEs, NGOs, or public bodies, early in the project lifecycle can ensure continuity and scalability. Where appropriate, tools developed within EU-funded projects should be incorporated into EU-level platforms (e.g., European Commission repositories) to maximise reach and longevity.

  5. Harmonise EU-Wide Educational Standards and Procedures
  Efforts should be made to streamline the cross-border recognition of academic degrees and training certificates to reduce barriers to mobility and speed up validation processes.
  The development of EU-wide frameworks for course structures would also support mutual recognition and improve efficiency.

  Digital innovation should be leveraged to widen access to education, particularly for learners in remote areas. This includes:

  • Providing subsidies for digital equipment;

  • Offering incentives for AI-powered educational content;

  • Supporting the design and dissemination of high-quality online courses.

  6. Foster the Role of Art and Culture in the Green Transition
  Artistic and cultural initiatives should be recognised and supported as powerful drivers of awareness, inclusion, and creativity in the sustainability space. These interventions can help engage broader audiences and inspire innovative thinking.

  7. Support Local Governance Capacity-Building
  Empowering local and regional authorities with financial and institutional resources is critical to enable the adoption of innovative governance models. Aligning these local efforts with EU-wide strategies, such as the European Green Deal, Farm to Fork, and the Circular Economy Action Plan, will reinforce strategic coherence and strengthen impact. Regional actors should be more closely connected to EU policy dialogues and implementation frameworks.

  By implementing these recommendations, policymakers can significantly enhance the transformative potential of local sustainability initiatives. These actions will also help ensure that grassroots innovation aligns with Europe’s overarching ambitions for a greener, more inclusive, and competitive future.

After three years of intensive research, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement, the STAR4BBS project officially concludes. The initiative, funded under the EU’s Horizon programme, has successfully delivered new tools, knowledge, and recommendations to enhance certification, labelling, and traceability in the bio-based economy.

About STAR4BBS

STAR4BBS (“Sustainable bio-based systems through effective certification & labelling”) was launched to maximize the potential of Sustainability Certification Schemes (SCS) and business-to-business labels to drive the sustainable transition of the EU bio-based economy. The project focused on:
•Assessing the existing international and EU SCS, labels and traceability systems applicable to biological feedstock, bio-based materials and products;
•Developing robust indicators and a monitoring framework to evaluate their effectiveness and reliability; and
•Recommending improvements to ensure transparency, credibility and alignment with sustainability goals.
The consortium included leading universities, research centres, standardisation bodies, NGOs, and industry stakeholders across Europe.

Key Achievements
1.New Monitoring & Evaluation System Developed STAR4BBS has designed and tested a monitoring system with indicators that allow users, policy-makers, auditors and businesses to assess how well certification schemes and labels are doing — in terms of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, traceability, and risk of greenwashing.
2.Comprehensive Assessment of Existing Schemes The project has published analyses and public results comparing certified vs non-certified biomass flows, evaluating market access effects, robustness of labelling and traceability practices. These findings help identify best practices as well as critical gaps.
3.Broader Stakeholder Training & Awareness Through webinars, conferences, and workshops, STAR4BBS trained and informed diverse audiences — from industry leaders to civil society — on navigating new EU legislation, addressing greenwashing, and implementing sustainability standards more effectively.
4.Collaboration and Policy Contribution The project liaised with sister EU initiatives, engaging in cross-project knowledge transfer and contributing to ongoing policy conversations around sustainable labels, voluntary standards, and bio-based systems. This includes feeding into EU legislative frameworks and standardisation discussion.

Impacts & Legacy
•Enhanced Trust & Transparency in the bio-based supply chain: STAR4BBS’s monitoring tools and recommendations are expected to help reduce risk of greenwashing, improve credibility of labels, and support companies and certifiers in implementing robust traceability and sustainability.
•Policy & Regulatory Alignment: Findings will inform EU institutions and national governments in the formation or refinement of regulation concerning voluntary sustainability standards, labelling, and bio-based product frameworks.
•Capacity Building: Stakeholders across the public and private sector are now better equipped with training, resources, and networks to enact and support sustainable bio-based practices.
•Resources for the Future: All public results, assessments, tools, indicators and reports are made available to facilitate further research, adoption by industry, and follow-on initiatives.
Next Steps
While STAR4BBS formally ends, its work lays the foundation for:
•Adoption of its monitoring system by certifiers, standard bodies, and industries.
•Integration of its findings into future revisions of EU and national sustainability policies and regulatory standards.
•Further research to test and expand the framework in different sectors, geographies and supply chains.
•Continued collaboration across projects and networks to scale impact.

Contact
info@star4bbs.eu
star4bbs.eu

21 October 2025 from 9:00 to 13:00 CEST
Online

Many of the products consumers purchase display eco-labels and are wrapped in promises of sustainability, bio-based content, or fair and ethical production conditions. The messages and criteria behind these labels and certification schemes often remain unclear. To simplify and decode these messages, the EU-funded research project 3-CO (Concise Consumer Communication through Robust Labels for Biobased Systems) focuses on improving how certification schemes and eco-labels communicate with consumers. By developing smart label design guidelines, digital support tools, and implementing social innovation strategies, the project addressed the challenges of transparency, trust, and consumer engagement, especially with regard to bio-based products. At its final online-event, 3-CO will showcase the project’s significant advances in consumer communication through investigating and implementing consumer perspectives and attitudes.
Taking place virtually on 21 October 2025 from 9:00 to 13:00 CEST, the event brings together international experts in certification, industry professionals, policy makers, researchers, (social) innovators, and stakeholders committed to driving a green transition of the EU’s bioeconomy and society at large.

Online-Event “Empowering Bio-Based Choices Through Smart Certification”
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sGB9lEzvTRq-E6Q3-K1_vw

Driving dialogue on certification and sustainability

In four sessions, the final 3-CO event will showcase panel discussions, expert presentations, case studies and best practise examples.

Session 1 (9:00 – 10:00): Certification and Labelling
This session kicks off the programme by highlighting how smart certification and clear labelling can enhance consumer trust in bio-based products. Expert presentations by Margaux Le Gallou (ECOS) and Loha Hashimi (ENIDE) will evaluate the role of label and certification schemes in consumer choices, put EU-eco-labels through a reality check, and introduce how the developed 3-CO-app helps consumers decode label-information and identify sustainable products.

Session 2 (10:00-11:00): Social Innovation
This session delves into the transformative potential of social innovation and includes recommendations for implementation of social innovations in EU-policy and brand strategies, presented by Zoritza Kiresiewa (Ecologic Institute). Noemi de Santis and Andrea Mangone from the Junker-App will introduce a successful example of social innovation with their user-friendly app that supports consumers in correctly recycling their packaging waste.

Session 3 (11:00-12:00): Policy
Putting the crucial role of policy frameworks at centre, this session explores the impact of policy and market instruments in establishing effective certification and scaling certified bio-based solutions. Kaj Seger (nova-Institute) will present the label design guidelines developed in the 3-CO project. Policy representatives will provide insights into how certification can be integrated with public procurement and regulatory strategies to foster sustainable consumption.

Session 4 (12:00 – 13:00): Consumer Perspective
This session presents the latest research on how consumers perceive and respond to bio-based products and what concerns they voice towards certification and labelling. Agnieszka Wiśniewska (University of Warsaw) will share key behavioural insights, while representatives from consumer associations will discuss communication strategies that enhance transparency, build trust, and ultimately promote sustainable purchasing choices.

Register here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sGB9lEzvTRq-E6Q3-K1_vw

Download the preliminary agenda below
https://3co-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/25-08-12_3co_agenda.pdf

For more information and registration details, visit the official 3-CO project website at www.3co-project.eu.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

On 29 October 2025, the BioReCer project (https://biorecer.eu) invites stakeholder from the bio-based industries, research, certification and standardisation, and (consumer) organisations to its final event at the Ciudad de la Cultura in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Scheduled from 9:00 to 14:45 CET, this occasion marks the conclusion of the EU‑funded project, which over three years has worked intensely to improve the trust, traceability, and certification of biological feedstocks.
The BioReCer (Biological Resources Certifications Schemes) project has developed a framework for assessing the sustainability and circularity of biological resources, identified indicators of circularity, as well as guidelines for integrating these into established certification schemes. In addition, a Standardisation Toolkit was developed, which is a comprehensive online database designed to support professionals in the bio-based industry. Recommendations for the valorisation and use of biological feedstock propose integration of BioReCer findings into policy.
One key-outcome is the BioReCer ICT Tool (BIT). This digital app provides tracking and traceability information of bio-based solutions and feedstocks along the entire bio‑based value chain. By providing product information and assessing circularity indicators the BIT aims to improve decision-making through real-time data and actionable insights, but also to enhance sustainability through assessment and improved environmental performance. The tool further offers a self‑assessment function that enables companies to evaluate their own enterprise with regard to sustainability and circularity criteria, enabling evaluation on whether a company is fit for certification and what levers exist to achieve a higher certification.

Trust, Traceability, and Certification – Valorising Biobased Feedstocks
29 October 2025
9:00 to 14:45 CET
Ciudad de la Cultura, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (only on-site participation)
Register here: https://novainstitute.aidaform.com/BioReCerFinalEvent

The BioReCer project (https://biorecer.eu) has validated its approach in four case studies on biological waste and residues, including

• agriculture (Greece),
• fishery (Spain),
• municipal organic waste and wastewater (Italy) and
• forestry (Sweden),

assessing material flows, and replicability and transferability across these sectors.

In various presentations BioReCer partners will showcase key results, explain the sustainability and circularity framework (University of Santiago de Compostela), discuss circularity indicators (Imperial College London), and explain how this framework can be integrated into certification schemes (Meo Carbon Solutions). A live demonstration of the BioReCer ICT Tool (EGM) will showcase its functions supporting product traceability, self‑assessment, and certification data management.
A second block of the event will feature two moderated round tables. The first expert round will focus on sustainability and circularity assessments in the bio‑based industry, drawing on lessons from BioReCer’s case studies and contributions from related projects. The second roundtable will address the future valorisation of biological feedstocks with insights from several other EU-projects.
An exposition corner will provide space to discover BioReCer and its related EU-projects, explore project results, and materials, and to speak directly with the members of the different projects.
This final event is open to stakeholders from industry, research, certification, policy makers and (consumer) organisations who want to gain first‑hand understanding of BioReCer’s tools and methods, and their relevance for creating transparent, impactful certification for biological feedstocks.

Find the preliminary agenda here: https://biorecer.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/final-event-biorecer-draft-agenda.png

Further information on the BioReCer event are available at https://biorecer.eu.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

STAR4BBS Empowers Bio‑Based Industry Through Two High-Caliber April Trainings on Greenwashing & CSRD Compliance

STAR4BBS, with key support from projects such as SUSTCERT4BIOBASED and Engage4BIO, has released recordings and presentation materials from two impactful online trainings held in March 2025. These sessions addressed critical sustainability challenges for the bio‑based sector: tackling greenwashing, and meeting new EU requirements under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

“Navigating the new EU legislations to address greenwashing: how standards and research projects can support the bio‑based industry”

Date: 25 March 2025
This session featured expert speakers including Elena Mocchio, Gustavo De Feo, Margaux Le Gallou, and representatives from BIOBASEDCERT. It offered a comprehensive examination of recent EU legislation aimed at combatting greenwashing—misleading environmental claims—and guided the audience on how standards and certification initiatives fortify credible sustainable branding bbs.unibo.eu+8star4bbs.eu+8star4bbs.eu+8.

Viewers are invited to:

• Watch the full recording.
• Download presentations from each speaker for insights on legal frameworks, green-claims substantiation, and certification tools.

“Training on Navigating the CSR Directive”

Date: 14 March 2025
Co-hosted by STAR4BBS, Engage4BIO, and SUSTCERT4BIOBASED, this 90‑minute session examined the EU’s CSRD and its transformative impact on companies within the bio‑based industry app.3blmedia.com+4star4bbs.eu+4eubionet.eu+4.
Key highlights included:

• A detailed breakdown of CSRD obligations – who must report, what data to provide, and compliance timelines.
• Findings from the STAR4BBS project illustrating how research outputs and voluntary standards can streamline reporting and align activities with the EU Taxonomy.
• SME-focused insights from Engage4BIO, offering practical support tools and innovation pathways to meet CSRD requirements.
  Participants also engaged in interactive Q&A with sector specialists.

Access Learning Materials

Both events are now available to watch on-demand. STAR4BBS encourages stakeholders across the bio‑based industry—environmental managers, compliance officers, SMEs, scheme owners, and policymakers—to leverage these resources to sharpen sustainability practices, strengthen reporting credibility, and enhance market trust.

About STAR4BBS
Led by Technische Universität Berlin, the STAR4BBS project fosters sustainable bio‑based systems via effective certification, labelling, and monitoring. By developing new indicators, tracking trade flows, and collaborating with scheme owners and industry partners, STAR4BBS supports the European Green Deal’s goals