Reducing reliance on fossil resources is seen as vital for national security and resilience. We call on the UK Government to conduct an urgent review of how bio-based chemicals and materials are treated across UK policies, regulations and taxation including how their biogenic carbon is accounted for

We believe current policies effectively lock the UK into continued reliance on oil and fossil fuels, increasing exposure to global price shocks, supply disruption, and geopolitical instability. At the same time, the current framework works to limit the deployment of bio-based solutions that could replace many of the everyday products underpinning modern society. We feel this is a critical issue as engineering biology, a key UK growth sector, depends on clear, consistent policy signals to scale.