Todays Global Intelligence: 12 October 2026

Biomaterials: New Zealand. Government support for New Zealand’s first ‘BioFactory’ will unlock private investment in shared infrastructure that transforms low-value primary sector commodities and waste into high-value ingredients for industries ranging from health and nutrition to advanced materials and pharmaceuticals. The BioFactory will turn low-value or waste forestry, agriculture and marine by-products into high-value ingredients, at a scale supporting commercial production. Minister of Forestry Todd McClay will see the government, via the Ministry for Primary Industries, ring-fence $15m towards a $30m capital raise, conditional on a further $15m being secured from private investors. Kaingaroa Tipu (formerly Timberlands) has already committed $2m. Separate to the capital raise, a further $20m investment is expected from a property developer. The facility is expected to be designed next year, built in 2028 and operational in 2029. Link 12/10/2026.

Policy: Europe. Sustainable Innovations (SIE) will be the leading partner for the financial management, communication and exploitation tasks within BIOEASTWIDE, a new Horizon Europe project officially funded by the European Commission, building on the existing BIOEAST initiative aimed at advancing bioeconomy research and innovation (R&I) across Central and Eastern Europe. With a total budget of 4 million euros, BIOEASTWIDE will support the development of a coordinated bioeconomy framework across the BIOEAST macro-region, including EU Member States and widening countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans. Through mapping activities, strategic roadmap development and capacity-building programmes, the project will address key gaps in policy alignment, funding coordination and innovation uptake. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries participation in EU research programmes addressing bioeconomy continues to be low mostly due to lacking targeted research funding management and coordination at national levels, fragmented national and cross-border stakeholder collaboration, and poor R&I infrastructure that prevents the deployment at full scale of research results into practice. Link 12/10/2026.

Hydrogen: Spain. Moeve celebrated the start of construction of the first phase of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen project, with an event in Palos de la Frontera, Huelva. The project, led by Moeve with a majority 51% stake, benefits from a strong shareholder structure that combines industrial and financial expertise through the participation of Hy24, the world’s largest clean hydrogen private equity asset manager, and COFIDES, Spain’s public-private finance institution, as strategic partners with a combined 29% stake. The Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen energy project, is designed to deliver 2 GW of electrolysis capacity across Moeve’s Energy Parks in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) and San Roque (Cádiz). The project positions Andalusia as a strategic region for leading the production of green molecules, thanks to its availability of land, world-class port infrastructure and climatic conditions that enable renewable electricity generation at significantly lower costs than in northern Europe. Link 12/10/2026.

Biojet/SAF: Europe. The ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation (RFEUA) stipulates in Article 13 that EASA is required to annually prepare and publish a RFEUA Annual Technical Report, starting in 2025. Report key findings include: Characteristics of SAF supplied: SAF supply primarily aviation biofuels (approximately 80%), overwhelmingly derived from UCO. 85% of feedstocks imported, mainly from China (61%), followed by Malaysia (8%) and Indonesia (5%). SAF supply distribution: In 2025, SAF was supplied at 121 Union airports across all 27 EU Member States. The Netherlands received the largest amount of SAF among the EU Member States (320 kt; or 29% of all SAF reported). Production outlook: By 2030, EU SAF production could reach 1.5 Mt (only currently available capacity), 3.7 Mt (including capacity under construction + post-FID), or 5.5 Mt + 0.6 Mt synthetic (including high-credibility project announcements). Meeting 2030 SAF target (6%) is well within reach. Synthetic fuels continue to lag behind (no large-scale facilities reached FID yet), yet project pipeline is growing and EU Member States scale up support. Prices: 2025 SAF avg. €1,925/t vs €640/t for conventional jet fuel. Link 12/10/2026.

Biogas: USA. BerQ RNG completed the acquisition of a portfolio of assets from Sevana Bioenergy. The transaction includes the Rialto Bioenergy Facility, an organic waste anaerobic digestion to RNG facility located in Rialto, California, together with a pipeline of dairy and swine manure RNG development projects in Idaho, California and Kansas. The transaction diversifies BerQ RNG’s current portfolio (both in terms of feedstock and geography) and underscores BerQ’s experience as a multi-feedstock RNG platform. The Rialto Bioenergy Facility is designed to process up to 1,000 tons per day of food waste diverted from municipal solid waste streams, liquid organic waste and municipal biosolids, and has the capacity to produce up to 1 million MMBtu of RNG annually. The facility is connected directly to the Southern California Gas Company pipeline network through a dedicated pipeline injection facility. Link 12/10/2026

Feedstock: Indonesia. Indonesia plans to develop about 1 million hectares of new sugarcane plantations to supply its planned E20 gasoline program. The Energy Ministry estimates that E20 would require roughly 4 million kiloliters of ethanol annually, far above current domestic production. Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said the government would prioritize degraded land before considering forested areas, although he did not completely rule out forest conversion. The plan comes amid environmental concerns: more than 50,000 hectares of rainforest, savanna, peat swamp and wetlands have reportedly been cleared for sugarcane and rice since 2024, according to environmental group Mighty Earth. Link 12/10/2026.

Ethanol: India. SunBridge BioEnergy has begun commercial production at its 300,000-liter-per-day grain-based ethanol plant in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh. The facility has 11 million liters of storage capacity and produces fuel-grade ethanol from damaged food grains, including maize and broken rice unsuitable for human consumption. The plant also produces DDGS and distillers corn oil for animal-feed markets and incorporates water-recovery systems and zero-liquid-discharge operations. SunBridge plans to expand its ethanol capacity to 700,000 Liters per day when a planned 400,000-liter-per-day facility in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, becomes operational. Link 12/10/2026.