1. International Institute for Sustainability Analysis and Strategy
Towards a Coherent Sustainability Framework for Bioenergy: The BiomassPolicies Approach
Uwe R. Fritsche
Scientific Director, IINAS
International Institute for Sustainability Analysis and Strategy
presented at the
BIOMASS POLICIES WORKSHOP “SUSTAINABILITY” AND “MOBILISATION”
Brussels, May 14, 2014

2. Context: Many Projects and Studies
Global Assessments and Guidelines for Sustainable Liquid Biofuel Production in Developing Countries (FAO/UNEP/UNIDO)
Indicators for Sustainable Bioenergy
Sustainability of certified wood bioenergy feedstock supply chains: Ecological, operational and international policy perspectives. IEA Bio Tasks
Joint Workshops on extending the RED to forest bioenergy
Sustainable bioenergy in EU28
Resource-efficient bioeconomy in Europe
Supporting a Sustainable European Bioenergy Trade Strategy (IEE)

3. IINAS Work on Sustainable Bioenergy
Contribute to extending the RED criteria to all bioenergy (Joint Workshop series with JRC, EEA etc.), current focus on C balance of forest bioenergy
Define criteria/indicators for sustainable bioeconomy (EU BiomassPolicies, S2Biom)
International (transatlantic) discussion through IEA Bioenergy Tasks , UNEP, FAO…
GBEP: testing the sustainability indicators for bioenergy (national level), possible revision
Higher GHG targets: 1) achievable, 2) needed for high decarbonisation scenarios

4. Sustainability: Beyond Biofuels
2nd generation biofuels and biorefineries will use lignocellulosic feedstocks: role of solid biomass especially from forests + SRC
Bioheat, co-firing + biomaterials increase
Biomass providers do not know “in advance” for what their feedstock will be used
Coherent sustainability requirements for all bioenergy (electricity, heat, transport) and biomaterials, biorefineries etc. needed
Key conclusions and recommendations: 1 min

5. Bioenergy: Global Commodity
Solid Bioenergy Trade to EU28

6. Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP)
founded in 2005 at G8 Gleneagles Summit
currently 36 Partners (23 governments – 13 organizations) + 32 Observers (22 governments – 11 organizations), secretariat hosted by FAO in Rome
only global forum to work & “agree” on sustainable bioenergy

7. GBEP & Sustainable Bioenergy
For more information see
contact to GBEP:

8. 24 Sustainability Indicators agreed by all GBEP partners
Indicators set out under three pillars and relevant themes were identified under each pillar.

9. Sustainable Biomass… Key Criteria (preliminary list):
Resource efficiency: make the most out of limited resource land (>100 GJ/ha), residues (> 60%)
GHG emissions, incl. those from iLUC (agricultural crops, incl. SRC) + C stock changes (for forest bioenergy and straw)
Biodiversity: protect high-biodiverse areas, sustainable management practice (all cultivation systems, incl. forestry)
Air emissions, water and soil impacts
Food, fuelwood & land tenure security
(Rural) employment & income, energy security/diversity

10. Bioenergy Sustainability Schemes
No existing scheme covers all sustainability aspects
Various schemes with different objectives, many overlaps; most advanced: RSB and ISCC+, but still issues open (C stock changes, land tenure…)
Many stakeholders ask for binding criteria...
...but no EC proposal on extending sustainability criteria to solid/gaseous bioenergy  post-2020?
scheme: no GHG/res.eff. requirements...yet.

11. EU RED Extension?
Proposal for criteria and indicators to extend the RED sustainability criteria to woody biomass (EU BiomassFutures + Crops2Energy projects)
Joint Workshops ( ) with JRC, EEA and Member States (DE, NL, SE) (Outcome doc)
Current work on C balance of forest bioenergy:
workshops July (Arona) + December (Copenhagen) 2013
with IEA Bioenergy, EEA and JRC in May 2014 in CPH

12. C Balance of Forest Bioenergy
Models and simplified approaches give years of payback time for forest residues = nearly carbon neutral
Forest baseline (what happens If not bioenergy?) and fossil reference: significant influence
Differentiation:
Type of forest biome (boreal, temperate, tropic)
Type of forest product (residues, thinnings, low- or high quality stemwood)

13. Time horizon for CO2 emission reduction
C Balance and C Debt
Woody biomass source for energy use
Time horizon for CO2 emission reduction
Short (10 years)
Medium (50 years)
Long (centuries)
Coal
gas
coal
Boreal, stems final harvest
--- -
- - +
Temperate, stems final harvest
+/- ++
Harvest residues + thinnings, landscape care & salvage wood*
SRC on marginal agricultural land
+++
SRC replacing forest
industrial residues, wastes
-; --; ---: bioenergy system emits more CO2eq than reference fossil system in given time frame
+/-: GHG emissions of bioenergy and fossil are comparable in given time frame
+; ++; +++: bioenergy system emits less CO2eq than reference fossil system in given time frame
*For residues, thinnings & salvage wood: depending on alternative use (burning) and decay ratesS
Source: own compilation based on JRC (2013)

14. Forest Bioenergy C Balances
Feedstock is relevant: where from, and which forest products (especially for imports)
Waste and woody residues: good, but possible biodiversity and displacement effects (better analysis!)
Which metrics: no agreement yet
BiomassPolicies to improve GHG accounting beyond RED: time-dependent C balances for forest bioenergy, iLUC for agricultural land use; and considering biodiversity & social effects

15. Some Conclusions
Discussion on sustainability “beyond biofuels” is getting stronger (biorefineries, biomaterials…)
Global impacts from (increasing) bioenergy trade: consider views from exporting countries in stakeholder dialogue
Address social effects (positive and negative)
Consider energy security (as diversity)
You are invited to contribute!

16. More Information
Contact: 16