Political Feedback on the Advanced Materials Act by WoodPoP
The European Wood Policy Platform (WoodPoP) welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to establish an Advanced Materials Act (AMA) as a cornerstone of Europe’s industrial, climate, and competitiveness agenda. WoodPoP strongly supports the Act’s ambition to strengthen European resilience, reduce strategic dependencies, and accelerate the industrial deployment of advanced materials produced within the European Union.
In this context, WoodPoP calls for renewable bio-based materials—particularly wood-based materials—to be explicitly and strategically embedded within the scope and implementation of the Advanced Materials Act.
Wood is a strategic European resource. It is renewable, widely available within the EU, and essential for achieving climate neutrality, circularity, and industrial transformation. Wood-based materials deliver immediate climate benefits through long-term carbon storage and substitution of fossil-based and carbon-intensive materials, while supporting regional value chains, employment, and strategic autonomy. As such, wood-based materials directly contribute to the core objectives of the Advanced Materials Act.
Advanced wood-based materials clearly meet the definition of advanced materials, particularly when engineered or functionalised to deliver enhanced performance and new applications. They reduce Europe’s dependence on critical and imported raw materials and strengthen the EU’s capacity to develop, manufacture, and deploy sustainable materials at scale.
To ensure the Advanced Materials Act delivers on its objectives, WoodPoP recommends the following key priorities:
- Explicit recognition and prioritisation of renewable bio-based materials as advanced materials, reflecting their essential role in achieving climate neutrality and circularity.
- Investment in European production capacity, with wood-based advanced materials prioritised as a means to strengthen supply chain resilience, reduce import dependencies, and enhance strategic autonomy.
- Alignment of standards, regulation, and market access, particularly in construction and building, to remove barriers to the uptake of advanced wood-based materials across Member States.
- Targeted support for industrial scale-up and first-of-a-kind deployment, addressing the gap between research, demonstration, and market uptake of advanced wood-based materials.
- Strong partnerships with the New European Bauhaus Academy, particularly in the construction sector, to accelerate sustainable design and innovation across Europe.
- Integration of performance-based climate metrics, including carbon handprint approaches, as well as harmonised life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies and carbon accounting tools, to reward advanced materials that store carbon and deliver long-term climate benefits in buildings and infrastructure, including renovations.
- Emphasis on socio-economic impacts, including job creation and skills deployment throughout the entire value chains, supported by tailored and inclusive educational programs that specifically encourage women’s participation, address skill shortages, and accommodate diverse age profiles.
- Alignment of wood-based advanced materials with sustainable forest management principles and the cascading use of biomass, ensuring long-term resource efficiency and environmental integrity.
WoodPoP considers the Advanced Materials Act a decisive opportunity to align Europe’s industrial, climate, and resource policies. A clear political commitment to wood-based advanced materials will strengthen Europe’s resilience, accelerate the green transition, and reinforce Europe’s leadership in sustainable and competitive material systems.
Access the Policy Brief here: https://woodpop.eu/projects/contribution-of-woodpop-to-the-advanced-materials-act/