The bioeconomy is gaining traction globally, as governments, businesses, financial institutions and communities look for new sources of innovation and competitiveness, more resilient economies and alternatives to current production models. With that momentum comes a wider conversation about what kind of bioeconomy is being built, who benefits from it, and what it will take for sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy models to reach scale.
The Bioeconomy Challenge’s four working groups are advancing their first deliverables across metrics and indicators, finance, market development and trade, and sociobioeconomy. Between September and November, the initiative and its partners will take this work to New York, Geneva, Dublin, Yerevan and Antalya, testing emerging thinking against real-world experience, bringing new perspectives into the process and connecting practical implementation with the wider policy and finance discussions.
See where to find us and connect with the Bioeconomy Challenge team.
Climate Week NYC
Financing the Forest Bioeconomy at Scale
23 September | Nature Hub, KPMG Headquarters, New York City, USA
The Bioeconomy Challenge will join the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership and the United Nations Development Programme for a discussion on what it will take to finance the forest bioeconomy at scale.
The session will bring together public and private sector perspectives to examine the barriers holding back investment, and the financial structures, stronger pipelines and enabling conditions needed to move capital into forest bioeconomy opportunities.
Visit the Climate Week NYC website →
Building Bridges
6–8 October | Geneva, Switzerland
Bioeconomy transition: investment, scale and system redesign
The Bioeconomy Challenge will join Building Bridges for a discussion focused on a central question for investors: what will it take to turn growing interest in a sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy into credible, investable opportunities at scale?
Bringing together global, regional and national perspectives, the session will look at the financial and market infrastructure needed for capital to move, from metrics and policy to investable pipelines and deal structures, grounded in real economy sectors and opportunities. Full programme and speaker details coming soon.
Visit the Building Bridges website →
Global Bioeconomy Summit 2026
19–22 October | Dublin, Ireland
At the Global Bioeconomy Summit, the Bioeconomy Challenge and its partners will bring together perspectives from different regions and levels of implementation, from global frameworks to enterprises and territories. The sessions will be an opportunity to share progress, examine what is preventing promising bioeconomy models from reaching scale within planetary boundaries, and bring practical lessons and recommendations back into the Bioeconomy Challenge’s work. Full programme and speaker details coming soon.
Beyond Science and Technology: Scaling the Bioeconomy in the Global South – Enabling Conditions, Regional Cooperation and Global Partnerships
Tuesday 20 October | 11:15–12:45
Across the Global South, science, technology and innovation are creating new opportunities for the bioeconomy, but many solutions remain at pilot or niche scale. This workshop will look at the conditions needed to close that gap, from policies, institutions and finance to markets, trade, regional value chains and territorial capacities.
Drawing on experiences from Latin America, the Amazon and Africa, alongside European and global partners, participants will identify bottlenecks, priority actions and opportunities for South–South and international cooperation.
Led by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture; The South African Department of Science, Technology and Innovation; The Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), European Commission.
Bioeconomy: closing the scale-up gap between global frameworks and the ground level
Wednesday 21 October | 11:00–12:30
Scaling the bioeconomy requires action at every level, from enterprise models to global policy. This participatory workshop will take stock of the Bioeconomy Challenge’s first year and connect its global work with African and ground-level experience to identify barriers and transferable solutions.
Participants will work across the Bioeconomy Challenge’s four areas (metrics and indicators, finance, markets and trade, and sociobioeconomy) to develop practical recommendations that can strengthen ongoing work and inform wider bioeconomy solutions leading into COP31.
Led by the Bioeconomy Challenge, the African Bioeconomy Finance Hub and TRANSFORM.
People and Biodiversity at the Heart of the Bioeconomy: From Local Territories to Global Impact
Wednesday 21 October | 11:00–12:30
How can the bioeconomy generate prosperity while sustaining biodiversity, ecosystems and livelihoods? Drawing on experiences from Uganda, Colombia and Brazil, this workshop will explore how community-led approaches can turn biodiversity, traditional and scientific knowledge, and territorial governance into inclusive economic opportunities. The discussion will examine what enables these approaches to create and retain value locally, strengthen livelihoods and rights, and inform policy, finance and markets.
Led by WRI Brasil, the Pan-Amazon Network for Bioeconomy; Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa); The Nature Conservancy; The Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Institute, with support from the Bioeconomy Challenge.
Visit the Global Bioeconomy Summit website →
CBD COP17
19–30 October | Yerevan, Armenia
At CBD COP17, the Bioeconomy Challenge and its partners will contribute to two side events connecting the bioeconomy with biodiversity, economic development and implementation. The sessions will bring different parts of the Bioeconomy Challenge’s work into the conversation, while creating space to hear from governments, businesses, communities and other actors about what implementation looks like across different contexts. Full programme and speaker details coming soon.
Trade, biodiversity and climate in a changing world order: unlocking competitiveness, regional integration, and market access for biobased products and services
28 October | Spitak – Side-event Room 2, Yerevan, Armenia
The Bioeconomy Challenge’s Market Development and Trade Working Group will explore how trade, investment and industrial policy can help build competitive and sustainable bioeconomy markets. The session will focus on market access, standards, procurement and regional cooperation, with particular attention to small and community-based producers in biodiversity-rich economies.
Led by Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, UNCTAD, WTO, NatureFinance, SEI, EMF.
COP31
November 2026 | Antalya, Türkiye
One year after its launch at COP30, the Bioeconomy Challenge will return to the UN Climate Change Conference with its four working groups underway and the first building blocks of its Global Bioeconomy Roadmap taking shape.
COP31 will provide an opportunity to share progress, bring new perspectives into the work and connect the emerging approaches across metrics and indicators, finance, market development and trade, and sociobioeconomy with wider climate, nature and economic discussions. More information on the Bioeconomy Challenge at COP31 will be published soon.
Visit the UNFCCC COP31 website →
Connect with us
The Bioeconomy Challenge is built through collaboration across organisations, sectors and regions. If you are attending one of these events and want to learn more, contribute perspectives to the work or explore opportunities to engage, we would like to hear from you.
Contact: admin@bioeconomychallenge.org
For communications and media: communications@bioeconomychallenge.org