Technology Roadmap: Delivering Sustainable Bioenergy

On 27 November IEA has published a new technology roadmap for bioenergy. The report and technology roadmap by IEA provides an update on the previous roadmaps released (2011; 2012). The report reflects on the evolving context of the bioenergy sector over the past five years with changes relating to bioenergy policy, market development and market regulation. The report identifies principle opportunities, the technical, policy and financial barriers to deployment and consequently suggests a range of solutions to overcome them.

The important contextual changes of the past five years include:

1. The growing urgency to tackle climate change
2. Increased competition to bioenergy in the form of: lower priced fossil fuels; cost reductions in alternative renewable energy sources e.g. wind.
3. Good progress of complementary technologies e.g. electric vehicles.
4. A growing appreciation of bioenergy’s potential in the broader economy.
5. Increased scrutiny on sustainability issues relating to bioenergy, including direct and indirect land use change and potential competition with food production.
6. Significant progress in developing and commercialising new bioenergy technologies.
7. A slowdown in the rate of deployment for transport biofuels.