GBEP new capacity building activity: towards sustainable modern wood energy development

Wood energy currently makes up more than 65 percent of the global share of renewable energy, with trees and woody plants providing more than 80 percent of this biomass.  In developing countries traditional use of such wood fuel is the principal source of energy for cooking and heating, in most cases in a not sustainable manner, while in industrial and emerging countries, wood fuel is also important to produce heat through combustion and increasingly in combined heat and power (CHP) and/or electricity generation, either through co-firing with coal or in dedicated biomass plants. As a result, global demand for woody biomass has increased, raising concerns among international actors, in particular regarding its possible competition for local use of woody resources and the possible pressure it could add to existing pressures from traditional wood based industries.

Supportive policy and institutional environments are required to enable the sustainable development of this sub-sector, and foster effective public-private partnerships. In consideration of its experience in developing and evaluating indicators of sustainable bioenergy production and GBEP can provide a platform for dialogue and exchange of good practices among experts and interested stakeholders, and foster a common understanding that could lead to the development of a framework for sustainability assessment and promotion of best practices. For this reason the recent 16th GBEP Steering Committee endorsed the establishment on a new activity group to be carried out within the framework of its Working Group on Capacity Building (WGCB), Activity Group 4 “Towards sustainable modern wood energy development”.

Led jointly by FAO, UNEP and UNF/GACC, the activity group will initially start working on a stock taking paper regarding successful initiatives on solid biomass development in developing countries – including lessons learned and sustainability impacts.

Read more about GBEP capacity building activities on its website.

Back to menu of articles

Leggi le notizie in italiano