São Paulo, 8 November 2025 — On the sidelines of COP30, government representatives and industry leaders today announced the launch of the Biofuture Platform Declaration on Sustainable Chemicals and Materials, a landmark international statement to accelerate the transition from fossil carbon to sustainable carbon feedstocks in the global chemical industry.
The Declaration was developed under the auspices of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Biofuture Platform Initiative, through a dedicated Working Group on Sustainable Chemicals and Materials, initiated by the Netherlands. Ms. Wytske van der Mei (Ministry of Climate and Green Growth) commented: “This milestone comes at a pivotal moment ahead of COP30 and demonstrates the value of strong international collaboration. It represents a vital step for the global transition and for advancing a climate-neutral, circular industry in the Netherlands and beyond. We look forward to further deepening this cooperation and translating these shared ambitions into concrete results”. The Declaration has been endorsed by all Biofuture Platform member countries, with the exception of the United States, and represents a major output under the Biofuture Platform Action Plan 2025–2027 and the broader CEM Future Fuels Action Plan.
The launch took place during the CEM Future Fuels High-Level Roundtable at the Sustainable Business COP30 in São Paulo, co-hosted by the Clean Energy Ministerial, Brazil’s COP30 Presidency, and Sustainable Business COP30. The event brought together ministers, senior officials, and business leaders from around the world to discuss practical pathways for implementing COP30 outcomes on sustainable fuels and materials.
The Declaration outlines a shared international vision to foster the use of bio-based, recycled, and captured carbon feedstocks, while encouraging innovation, policy alignment, and investment to create resilient and sustainable global supply chains. It recognises that conventional decarbonisation measures alone are insufficient for the chemical sector, where carbon is a fundamental input, and calls for international collaboration to build a competitive global market for sustainable materials. The Biofuture Industry Council, which brings together Industry leaders from across the sustainable chemicals value chain, issued a letter to express its support for the Declaration and for ambitious policies and actions to rapidly increase the production and use of sustainable chemicals and materials.
The Chair of the CEM Biofuture Platform Initiative (Prof. David Chiaramonti of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy) commented: “This Declaration is the result of the consultation carried out among all Platform’s members, and is one of the first outcomes of the new Action Plan of the Platform. The future role of Biochemicals and Biomaterials in the Bioeconomy is relevant, and it requires to be regulated in the different contexts and to be developed at scale, ensuring the most GHG performing and sustainable solutions are promoted”.
About the Biofuture Platform Declaration
The Declaration sets out principles for joint action in four priority areas:
- Policy and regulatory alignment, to promote clear and consistent frameworks for sustainable carbon feedstocks.
- Technology development and scale-up, fostering innovation and technology transfer across participating countries.
- Sustainable supply chain creation, promoting the development of sustainable sources of carbon for the chemical industry, and enhancing transparency and traceability in supply chains.
- Market development and demand stimulation, aligning product standards and certification schemes to promote global trade in sustainable materials.
The Declaration also emphasizes collaboration with existing initiatives such as the Integrated Biorefineries Mission under Mission Innovation, and establishes a Coordination Committee to monitor progress and facilitate dialogue among participants.
Background
The CEM Future Fuels Action Plan, launched at CEM15, brings together governments and industry to accelerate deployment of sustainable fuels and materials through three pillars: Demand Creation, Lifecycle Carbon Accounting, and Markets and Infrastructure. The Biofuture Platform Declaration represents one of the key deliverables under this Action Plan, bridging the chemical and fuels sectors toward a low-carbon, circular economy.
Download the Biofuture Platform Declaration on Sustainable Chemicals and Materials
