Category: events

His Majesty The King updated on collaborative regenerative actions

On 15 May the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance brought together at Windsor Castle those involved in supporting, building, investing in and operating the agri-food system, to discuss how to take the critical next steps to scale regenerative and nature-based production.

Scaling regenerative agri-food production will require the creation of investable business models that align ecological performance with farmer livelihoods and reliable, inclusive, market demand at scale. Partnerships between producers, businesses and investors are needed, together with approaches that are local, regional and community-rooted.

Discussions focused on overcoming barriers such as transition costs and risk, creating investment strategies and buyer commitments, as well as agreed standards and verification for regenerative approaches.

During the discussion, participants emphasized that farmers cannot be expected to carry the costs and risks of transition alone, and that, without long-term purchase commitments, the investment needed to change how food is produced will not flow. Opportunities for collective action were also discussed, including how lenders, insurers and investors can move faster by better recognising nature-related risks and benefits; how making natural capital visible in financial decision‑making can unlock capital at scale; and how collaboration across existing initiatives can help build on what is already working.

Marc Palahí, CBA CEO said “It is time to transform our current agri-food system, so that it becomes a solution rather than a driver of the climate and nature crises, supports healthier diets and enhances the resilience of communities and our ecological system. The question is not whether to act, but how to take the critical next steps to scale regeneration together.”

Outcomes and suggested next steps will be published in the coming weeks to build momentum on this critical issue.

The roundtable discussions were followed later in the day by a reception, which was joined by The King.

Regenerative agriculture: a holistic process

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach that aims to regenerate and restore the health, resilience and long-term productivity of soil and the wider socio-ecological system. It uses techniques and practices that promote the reduction of synthetic chemical inputs and physical disturbance, focusing on building soil health, increasing biodiversity, enhancing natural carbon sinks, and in turn increasing the resilience of farms and value chains to extreme weather and climate events.

While there is no broadly agreed-upon definition of regenerative agriculture, common to all definitions is the idea that regenerative agriculture is not a one-size fits-all approach. It is a context-specific journey that depends on the local soil conditions, ecosystem and microclimate, the crops to be grown, and the local community, as well as economic and cultural factors. The process requires continuous learning, data collection and on-farm innovation, and this less prescriptive, outcomes-based approach is why many consider regenerative agriculture a much more attractive proposition for farmers.

While promising in many settings, regenerative approaches are still evolving from early adoption and pilot phases towards more consistent, scalable and economically validated models. There is a critical opportunity to accelerate learning, target investment where it is most needed, and create the enabling conditions for building and scaling economically validated models.

More information

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance was established by His Majesty King Charles III, as The Prince of Wales, and is a registered charity. The CBA aims to accelerate the change to a nature-first economy that is climate neutral, inclusive and powers prosperity. We create impact at scale, using natural capital to build sustainable value chains which transform our land, food, health and industrial systems. Our approach combines a science-based framework, coalitions of expert partners, indigenous and local leaders, and a global network of ‘Living Labs’.

Photo credits: Fergus Burnett

His Majesty The King updated on new collaborations and actions

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance brought together bio-innovators, investment organisations and businesses at Windsor Castle on 30 March to discuss what it will take to scale the circular bioeconomy.

Discussions focused on new bio-solutions, innovative financing mechanisms and cross-stakeholder collaboration.

During the discussion, participants emphasized the need for strong cross-sector alignment and the role of convenings like this one to support collaboration.

Outcomes and suggested next steps will be published in the coming weeks to build momentum on this critical issue.

Marc Palahí, CBA CEO said “The CBA is determined to bring together people across sectors to connect the dots and build an integrated ecosystem that can help to scale the circular bioeconomy. Collaboration is non-negotiable, as no single entity can influence the full value chain. We need to take collective action that can help to overcome critical barriers, and which brings together all stakeholders, including innovators, manufacturers, brands, and investors.”

The roundtable discussions were followed later in the day by a reception, which was joined by The King.

Scaling the circular bioeconomy: from niche to norm

The circular bioeconomy is an economy centred around the restoration, protection and sustainable use of natural capital. It is one of the greatest business opportunities of the 21st century – new bioeconomy innovations use bioresources to develop and deliver solutions across multiple industries, replacing fossil-based materials with sustainable materials. This includes materials like bioplastics, textiles and nanocellulose; biobased construction materials like mass timber and mycelium; and innovation in the food sector including new agri-tech and biobased food supplements and feed. 

These bioeconomy solutions will not only help us to achieve critical pollution, climate and nature targets. They also support resource security, especially in regions with low availability of fossil resources, as well as job creation and economic growth, including in rural areas.

However, scaling the circular bioeconomy faces structural barriers. Bio-based ventures often struggle to secure financing – the investment gap is enormous, and finance mechanisms are not designed for biobased businesses. Progress is further slowed by weak demand, with no consistent pull from consumers or brands willing to pay a premium.

More information

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance was established by His Majesty King Charles III, as The Prince of Wales, and is a registered charity. The CBA aims to accelerate the change to a nature-first economy that is climate neutral, inclusive and powers prosperity. We create impact at scale, using natural capital to build sustainable value chains which transform our land, food, health and industrial systems. Our approach combines a science-based framework, coalitions of expert partners, indigenous and local leaders, and a global network of ‘Living Labs’.

Photos: Fergus Burnett

His Majesty The King and the President of the Republic of Finland, Alexander Stubb, visited The Garrison Chapel in London on 17 March to see an exhibition celebrating innovative wood-based products. 

The New Wood: Building a bio-based future exhibition brings together renewable materials, circular use, and cutting-edge innovation and design to show how the transition from a fossil-based economy to a bio-based one is already underway.  

On display are pioneering wood-based alternatives for everyday products from Finland, from textiles and packaging to cosmetics and chemicals.  

The exhibition also features works from The King’s Foundation’s Snowdon School of Furniture’s CREATE Programme,  which demonstrate how innovative, responsibly sourced wood supports sustainable design. 

The New Wood exhibition is a collaboration between the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, The King’s Foundation and the Finnish Forest Association. The exhibition is open from Monday 9 March until Friday 27 March 2026. 

Read more about the exhibition

Photos: Barry Scowen

New exhibition looking at nature’s solutions growing in our forests, opens at The Garrison Chapel, London

From sustainable fashion to designer bathtubs, a new exhibition at The Garrison Chapel reveals how wood is steadily replacing fossil-derived raw materials.

The New Wood: Building a bio-based future exhibition showcases how cutting-edge wood-based materials are transforming everyday products — from textiles and packaging to cosmetics, chemicals, and even car tyres.

The exhibition demonstrates that bio-based alternatives are no longer experimental. They are market-ready, scalable, and already replacing fossil-based materials. Highlights of the exhibition include designer sanitaryware made from a unique wood composite with a carbon footprint up to 80% lower than comparable ceramic products.

Visitors at The Garrison Chapel, The King’s Foundation’s exhibition space in London, can also learn how forest resources are sustainably transformed into cosmetics. In an industry worth £400 billion, cellulose-based hydrogel allows products to be made with up to 80% fewer chemicals and lower energy use. Waterless, biodegradable, and renewable, the wood-derived hydrogel on display is designed to replace multiple fossil-based ingredients in everyday beauty products.

Also on display are works from The King’s Foundation’s Snowdon School of Furniture’s CREATE Programme which is based at Highgrove Gardens, Gloucestershire. The pieces exhibited are rooted in circular practices, demonstrating how innovative, responsibly sourced wood supports sustainable design.

The exhibition brings together renewable materials, circular use of forest biomass, and cutting-edge innovation and design to show how the transition from a fossil-based economy to a bio-based one is already underway.

The New Wood exhibition is a collaboration between the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, The King’s Foundation and the Finnish Forest Association. The exhibition is open from Monday 9 March until Friday 27 March 2026.

Marc Palahí, CEO of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, said:

“The circular bioeconomy is one of the greatest business opportunities of the 21st century. Innovative bio-based solutions like those in the New Wood exhibition show the power of nature to help us transition to a more sustainable future. Building a circular bioeconomy that replaces the existing extractive fossil-based economy gives us the opportunity to invest in our renewable natural capital to holistically transform our land, food, health and industrial systems so they prosper in harmony with nature”.

Kirsi Joensuu, Executive Director of the Finnish Forest Association, said:

“Today’s bioeconomy builds on the strengths of the forest sector, from lumber, pulp and paper to advanced new materials. It is no longer a distant vision but a practical, scalable way to replace fossil‑based products. The New Wood exhibition shows that wood‑based solutions are not future concepts; they are real, market‑ready alternatives already in use.”

She added: “Finland’s forest sector is cutting emissions, strengthening the economy, and supporting a more sustainable future. That is exactly what New Wood brings to life.”

Dr Simon Sadinsky, Executive Director of Education at The King’s Foundation, said:

“It is wonderful to the see the work of our King’s Foundation furniture students exhibited alongside these innovative products. All our work at The King’s Foundation is centered on His Majesty’s Philosophy of Harmony, and looking to nature for our solutions, therefore it feels fitting to host this exhibition at our fantastic London exhibition space, The Garrison Chapel.”

More information

New Wood

Launched in 2014, New Wood is a groundbreaking project that demonstrates how innovation is driving the bioeconomy forward. It was created to increase public understanding of the full potential of wood, today and in the future. The project brings together 20 Finnish organisations from across the forest industry and is funded by its members and the Finnish Forest Foundation, which has served as the principal funder of New Wood since its inception.

Home – Uusipuu

Circular Bioeconomy Alliance

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance was established by His Majesty King Charles III, as The Prince of Wales, and is a registered charity. The CBA aims to accelerate the change to a nature-first economy that is climate neutral, inclusive and powers prosperity. We create impact at scale, using natural capital to build sustainable value chains which transform our land, food, health and industrial systems. Our approach combines a science-based framework, coalitions of expert partners, indigenous and local leaders, and a global network of ‘Living Labs’.

Finnish Forest Association

Established in 1877, the Finnish Forest Association promotes sustainable use of forests and strengthens society’s understanding of the value of forests. Through communication, education and collaboration with stakeholders across the forest sector, the Finnish Forest Association supports the transition from fossil‑based materials to renewable, circular solutions. Its mission is to ensure that forests remain a source of vitality, innovation and sustainability for future generations.

Finnish Forest Association

The King’s Foundation

The King’s Foundation is a charity founded by King Charles III and was first formed in 1990. Inspired by the vision and values of His Majesty, the Foundation builds and supports communities where people, places and the planet can coexist in harmony. The charity offers education courses for almost 15,000 students annually, health and wellbeing programmes for nearly 2,000 people every year, and spearheads placemaking and regeneration projects in the UK and overseas to revitalise communities and historic buildings.  

The King’s Foundation is headquartered at its flagship regeneration project, Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, and acts as custodian of other historic Royal sites including the Castle of Mey in Caithness, Scotland, and Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire. The Foundation also carries out its work at educational and cultural hubs in London, based at The King’s Foundation School for Traditional Arts in Shoreditch, Trinity Buoy Wharf on the River Thames and the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea. In addition to its UK presence, the Foundation delivers programmes and projects in over a dozen sites worldwide. For more information, please visit www.kings-foundation.org/ or email .

Photo: Anna Kauppi, Finnish Forest Association

Scientists, experts, business and indigenous leaders have come together to highlight the fundamental role that nature plays in human health, at a Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA) event in London.

An inspiring afternoon of expert panel discussions and a collaborative workshop was followed by an evening reception, which was joined by The King.

The afternoon’s discussions focused on how the latest scientific knowledge can be translated into business, practice and policy to unlock the transformative potential of nature as the basis for human health. This emphasized four key areas: risks to health caused by escalating climate and nature crises, for example wildfires; the benefits of exposure to nature on physical and mental health and what this means for urban design; how biodiversity affects the composition and health of our bodies and provides and inspires medicines; and what Indigenous wisdom together with science can tell us about nature and human health.

The conversations that unfolded throughout the afternoon also addressed the need for a new mindset that connects science, philosophy and indigenous wisdom as a basis for transforming our economy around Nature – a ‘Nature-First economy’. 

“We must rethink our relationship with nature to address the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and human health. The way we build our cities, manage our landscapes and produce our food are major causes behind the crisis, but also offer opportunities to move from the current vicious cycle to a virtuous one centred around nature. Science and technology are not enough to drive change at the scale needed. A new paradigm consisting of new concepts, perceptions, practices and values is necessary to create a world that prospers within nature and not apart from it”, said Marc Palahi, CEO of the CBA.

In the evening, The King joined a reception where he met with scientists, experts, companies and investors working to accelerate the transition towards nature-and-health positive businesses, and viewed an exhibition on nature, bioeconomy and health.

New scientific initiative with The King’s Foundation at Highgrove

During the event, the CBA and The King’s Foundation announced a new joint initiative on nature and health at Highgrove Gardens.

The project scientifically evaluates methods of assessing health and exposure to nature, measuring connections between biodiversity, the environment and human health. Using innovative digital tools, this project will track health in real time, providing evidence around specific nature-based solutions for communities.

“I am proud to work with our sister organization, The King’s Foundation, to advance and share knowledge regarding the benefits of nature and its biodiversity in human health and wellbeing. This is the first of a future network of Living Labs in this area”, said Marc Palahí.

“Our charitable mission is to promote Harmony with nature, and this new project will go a long way to demonstrate the tangible health benefits of the natural world – something we have long been passionate about. We are delighted to be working with the CBA again to further this area of study”, said Simon Sadinsky, Executive Director for Education at The King’s Foundation.

Combating climate-related risks to health

The event saw the CBA announce its first Custodian Member, the ”la Caixa” Foundation, one of the largest charities in the world. As a Custodian Member, la Caixa Foundation will support the CBA in its activities to address the accelerating problem of wildfires and water-related disturbances, such droughts and floods, which affect human safety, health and wellbeing. New initiatives will follow in the coming months.

New Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence

The event also marked the launch of the pioneering CBA Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence for a Nature-First Economy, supported by NatureAlpha. The Fellowship will explore how AI can support our understanding and management of complex socio-ecological systems, leveraging cutting-edge technology to support monitoring and evaluation in projects.

About the CBA

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA) was established in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III (formerly His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales), and became a registered charity in September 2023. The CBA aims to accelerate the transition to a nature-first economy that is both powered by nature and prospers in harmony with it. It delivers transformative impact at scale through its global network of Living Labs that blend science, technology and indigenous knowledge to holistically regenerate landscapes, support communities and rethink value chains.

Background

Nature is the keystone infrastructure regulating our planetary system, including its climate, the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. As humans, we are an integral part of nature – and our safety, and physical and mental health and well-being are dependent on nature’s health. Nature’s ability to provide healthy soils, fresh water and productive crops, is also fundamental to economic and social stability.

Photo credits:
Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Ian Jones

His Majesty The King earlier this week attended the Opening Ceremony of the first ever ‘Harmony Summit’ at Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire, UK.

The Harmony Summit, which was organised by The King’s Foundation in partnership with the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and the Earth Elders, brought together indigenous leaders, practitioners and policy makers with the aim of listening and learning from each other, and to explore how Harmony in practice can be embedded across a range of sectors, landscapes and geographies.

The Summit focused on attendees listening to and learning from the indigenous leaders and communities represented about their relationship with nature, and how this can inform the philosophy and practice of Harmony going forward.

A book on the Harmony philosophy, Harmony: A New Way of Looking at the World, was published by His Majesty as Prince of Wales in 2010. Co-authored by Tony Juniper and Ian Skelly, ‘Harmony’ describes the interconnectedness within and between nature and humanity, and offers this interconnectedness as a basis for taking a holistic approach to the challenges facing the planet and our communities, including living with nature, not against it. ‘Harmony’ values Indigenous values, knowledge and practices as guides for realising this approach.

Attendees at the Harmony Summit joined a series of listening circles and practical discussions. In discussion with the Earth Elders and the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, The King’s Foundation set a series of intentions for the day:

• To listen to the indigenous leaders sand representatives from across the world to share their perspectives on the state of the Earth and what must be done.
• To bring together knowledge holders — from Indigenous traditions and from science, economics, governance and more — to explore how we can better integrate these different systems and approaches.
• To inspire real action by identifying areas where working groups could be established and carried forward in partnership. This will involve linking into a number of live projects being taken forward by The King’s Foundation, the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and The Earth Elders.

Outcomes from the Harmony Summit will be shared in the coming weeks.

Simon Sadinsky, Executive Director for Education at The King’s Foundation, said: “This is a huge milestone for The King’s Foundation and everyone who champions the philosophy of Harmony. We are delighted to be hosting the first ever Harmony Summit with our partners the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and the Earth Elders – and what better setting to do this than Highgrove, where The King first showcased his principles of sustainability and organics. We were honoured to be joined by His Majesty for the proceedings.

“Bringing together indigenous elders, land stewards and thought leaders was heartening and thought provoking. In a world where we work increasingly in silos, we have a shared belief that working together to ensure we are accessing what nature can teach us – and putting this into practice to ensure the wellbeing of people and the planet – is more important than ever.

“We look forward to seeing what practical action will take place as a result of the enlightening and dynamic conversations that took place.”

Marc Palahí, Circular Bioeconomy Alliance CEO said: “The CBA is delighted to be a partner in the Harmony Summit. We are facing the collision of two worlds: a dying world made of extractive and fossil economic thinking, and a new world that still needs to be born, one that has been kept alive for thousands of years through Indigenous wisdom and is a world in harmony with Nature, where humans belong. We work with Indigenous People not to support their future but because they are the future.”

Mindahi Bastida, The Earth Elders said: “Our traditions teach us that nature is not a resource—it is life itself. We are not just caregiving 80% of Mother Earth, we are caregiving life. To move forward, we must go back—to restore our relationship with the Earth, guided by ancestral wisdom and original thought.

“The Harmony Summit, hosted at Highgrove, is an important step toward rebalancing our systems by centering Indigenous knowledge, protecting sacred lands, and remembering that true progress begins with listening to nature.”

The Harmony Summit comes ahead of a landmark documentary on The King’s Harmony philosophy, currently in production and due to be released by Prime Video.

More information

About the CBA

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA) was established in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III (formerly His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales), and became a registered charity in September 2023. The CBA aims to accelerate the transition to a nature-first economy that is both powered by nature and prospers in harmony with it. It delivers transformative impact at scale through its global network of Living Labs that blend science, technology and indigenous knowledge to holistically regenerate landscapes, support communities and rethink value chains.

About The King’s Foundation

The King’s Foundation is a charity founded by King Charles III and was first formed in 1990. His Majesty is Royal Founding President of the charity.

Inspired by the vision and values of His Majesty, the Foundation builds and supports communities where people, places and the planet can coexist in harmony. The charity offers education courses for almost 15,000 students annually, health and wellbeing programmes for nearly 2,000 people every year, and spearheads placemaking and regeneration projects in the UK and overseas to revitalise communities and historic buildings.

The King’s Foundation is headquartered at its flagship regeneration project, Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, and acts as custodian of other historic Royal sites including the Castle of Mey in Caithness, Scotland, and Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire. The Foundation also carries out its work at educational and cultural hubs in London, based at The King’s Foundation School for Traditional Arts in Shoreditch, Trinity Buoy Wharf on the River Thames and the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea. In addition to its UK presence, the Foundation delivers programmes and projects in over a dozen sites worldwide.

About The Earth Elders

The Earth Elders is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to protecting and regenerating nature by empowering Indigenous Peoples to lead conservation efforts. Guided by an Indigenous-led Council, Earth Elders integrates ancestral wisdom with modern regenerative practices to safeguard Earth’s biodiversity and biocultural heritage.

Photos: Ian Jones Photography / The King’s Foundation

Founding Members Lombard Odier, AstraZeneca and LVMH provide their backing to the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance as it delivers transformative action on the ground.

At COP28, the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA) called on leaders from across government, corporate, finance and civil society spheres to play their part in creating regenerative landscapes, and sustainable communities and markets.

As world leaders gathered at the summit to discuss and agree collective ambitions on climate, the CBA convened private, public and community partners to galvanise collective action that delivers tangible progress on the ground. The scaling up of nature-based solutions and regenerative value chains will be central to the success of efforts to secure a sustainable future for people and planet.

At an event co-hosted with the UK Government on 2 December 2023, and in support of the COP28 Presidency’s efforts to ‘put nature, people and livelihoods at the heart of climate action’, the CBA brought together leading voices to highlight the critical role of nature, and the circular bioeconomy it powers, in driving the transition to a net-zero, climate positive and inclusive economy. When properly valued by economic systems, nature’s benefits can help to address complex global and interconnected crises.

With the backing of Founding Members Lombard Odier, AstraZeneca and LVMH, the event also marked the CBA’s official launch as a British charity, as the UK forges a global leadership role in securing nature as the world’s most precious economic asset, at the heart of the global climate agenda.

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance is a leading collaborative platform that facilitates public-private partnerships to accelerate the transition to a circular bioeconomy that is climate-neutral, inclusive, and prospers in harmony with nature. The Alliance was established in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III (formerly His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales).

CBA’s Living Labs across four continents demonstrate how investing in nature and empowering local and indigenous communities can catalyse the development of circular bioeconomy value chains, while restoring biodiversity and local livelihoods. These public-private-community partnerships aim to create a scalable blueprint that drives progress towards global climate targets.

Dame Amelia Fawcett, CBA Chair and Co-Chair, International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits said “Our world, powered by an extractive and fossil-based economy, has reached a tipping point. We need a new economy powered by Nature – a circular bioeconomy that prospers within our planetary boundaries to support human health and sustainable wellbeing. The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance is connecting the dots between local and indigenous communities, investors, companies and NGOs to accelerate action on the ground to create regenerative landscapes and sustainable communities as the basis for a circular bioeconomy.”

Hubert Keller, Senior Managing Partner at Lombard Odier said: “A new economic paradigm is beginning to emerge, as the financial community wakes up to the essential role that nature will play in tackling the climate challenge. Lombard Odier is delighted to be a Founding Member of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, leveraging our expertise in attracting investors to the opportunity offered by Nature-based solutions, including the protection, restoration and sustainable management of our land systems. By unlocking and accelerating investment into nature at scale and working with like-minded partners within the Alliance, we look forward to supporting efforts to boost biodiversity and secure regenerative value chains – the very basis of a nature-positive economy.”

Juliette White, Vice President Global Sustainability, AstraZeneca said: “The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance is a unique organisation, whose support for sustainable and resilient landscape regeneration is building ecological and community resilience around the world. As founding members of the CBA Charity, we are delighted to be deepening our collaboration, and continuing to support community-led reforestation and circular business models. I’ve seen first-hand from our partnership with the CBA on AZ Forest projects in Ghana and Rwanda how effective public-private collaboration can drive sustainable impact at scale.”

Uyunkar Domingo Peas Nampichkai, Technical Advisor and Field Representative for the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENAIE) said: “We talk a lot about transition. How can we change? Ecological transition? For me the rainforest will not undergo transition. It automatically regenerates. The transition must be human. Human transition, a change of hearts and minds.”

Why nature?
Nature across the globe has been significantly altered by multiple human drivers, with the great majority of indicators of ecosystems and biodiversity showing rapid decline. Nature loss is fundamentally and bidirectionally interconnected with climate change – both crises accelerate each other and present systemic risks. Climate change is a key driver of nature loss and degradation (e.g., wildfires, droughts, pest and diseases) reducing nature’s ability to provide climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits and in many cases turning natural sinks into important sources of greenhouse emissions. This in turn intensifies the impacts of climate change, resulting in a vicious cycle of escalating effects.

The UK Government are leading the drive for nature focussed solutions as one of the first countries to pledge to protect 30% of their land for nature by 2030. They played a leading role at the COP15 UN biodiversity summit in Montreal in December 2022, driving negotiations and securing international commitments to protect nature and reverse biodiversity loss.

What is a circular bioeconomy?
A circular bioeconomy offers a conceptual framework for using renewable natural capital to holistically transform and manage our land, food, health and industrial systems, as well as our cities. A circular bioeconomy is a boundaried ecosystem, through which biological resources (plants, animals, micro-organisms and derived biomass, including organic waste) are sustainably managed and transformed in a circular manner into food, feed, energy and biomaterials. The aim of a circular bioeconomy is to ensure we are living within our means, and within the ecological boundaries of the environment.

How does the CBA protect nature?
The CBA mobilises transformative action on the ground towards nature restoration and sustainable development through its global network of Living Labs for Nature, People and Planet. The aim is to create scalable blueprints to transform degraded landscapes and non-sustainable value chains into regenerative landscapes and sustainable markets that are inclusive, biodiversity-positive and climate-neutral.

Each Living Lab mobilises funders, NGOs, governments, and local communities, using a landscape restoration project as the starting point to catalyse the development of circular bioeconomy value chains while restoring biodiversity and local livelihoods. Living Labs test holistic approaches to landscape restoration and sustainable value chain creation; focus on research and capacity building; and are based on public-private-community partnerships. They place local and Indigenous communities at their centre, empowering nature and people in a concrete territorial context and integrating traditional knowledge as well as science-based research and innovation.

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance’s aspiration is to create a proof of concept – a blueprint- to scale up the transformation our landscapes and value chains need. CBA are excited to share this solution with stakeholders at COP28, and demonstrate to the climate community a tangible answer to landscape degradation, whilst building sustainable value chains for local communities. This supports governments to develop science-informed strategies to transition towards a circular bioeconomy and advance global action on climate.

ENDS

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Anna Watkins +44 777 836 4986