Modern Bioenergy – the overlooked giant

Modern Bioenergy – the overlooked giant

Climate change presents one of the biggest threats to sustainable development and its widespread, unprecedented impacts burden the poorest and most vulnerable. Therefore, renewable and sustainable energy sources are a key element to antagonise this threat within a world of increasing population, pollution and loss of land and biodiversity. According to the IEA report of 2018[1], the global renewable energy consumption increased by more than 5% in 2017 and the share of renewable technologies meeting global energy demand is expected to increase by a fifth, reaching 12.4% in 2023. In this year’s report one of the main focuses lays on modern bioenergy, an energy source often being overshadowed by the more popular and omnipresent solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy. This is remarkable, as half of all renewable energy consumed in 2017 came from modern bioenergy, providing four times the contribution of PV and wind combined. Over half of bioenergy’s expansion was in heating applications, while the other half was split between the transport and power sectors. For the next five years, modern bioenergy consumption in the industry sector is anticipated to lead growth in renewable energy consumption.

Strong policy support will play a critically important role for the future of renewables such as modern bioenergy. It is needed to introduce and implement robust and transparent sustainability frameworks and regulations to govern bioenergy supply and use. For instance, setting targets is a key first step for countries to deploy renewable energy sources in different sectors that should cover both medium- and long-term periods to demonstrate a government’s ambition to increase the share of renewables within the energy mix. For example, in 2010, only approximately 30 countries had biofuel mandates in place, but by 2017 this number had tripled under the influence of policies to decarbonize transport, improve supply security and support strategic agricultural industries. Therefore, an enormous potential can be found within the production of modern bioenergy.

Nevertheless, bioenergy sustainability remains a complex topic − each application must be judged on its own specific circumstances and generalizations regarding the sustainability of bioenergy feedstocks, fuels and technologies. To deliver beneficial outcomes and successfully implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Agreement, modern bioenergy expansion must adhere to rigorous sustainability guidelines. Only bioenergy that reduces lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while avoiding unacceptable social, environmental, and economic impacts has a future role in a sustainable energy system. But then it will be able to significantly strengthen the renewables’ portfolio and help to play a crucial role in fulfilling the future environmental goals agreed on in Paris.

GBEP has produced a set of sustainability indicators for bioenergy organized under overarching environmental, social and economic pillars. The GBEP criteria are recognized among stakeholders as representing the key issues to ensure the best-practice employment of bioenergy applications, and they can form the basis of policies and regulations to support sustainable deployment. Through collaborations with other initiatives, the GBEP Sustainability Indicators are being used to inform policy makers on effective national policies for sustainable bioenergy development.