Bioenergy for a Green Economy– SET Plan Implementation Working Group 8 Position Paper
The SET Plan Implementation Working Group Action 8: Bioenergy and Renewable Fuels (IWG8) has recently prepared a position paper on the key role of bioenergy for sustainable transportation and for a green economy.
Climate change is one of the most significant challenges for humanity today. For this reason, replacement of fossil fuels with renewables is needed as a central action. The transport sector is especially dependant on fossil fuels and renewables can play a key role in defossilisation and improved resilience. The EU aims to be climate-neutral by 2050 – meaning an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal and in line with the EU’s commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement.
IWG8 believes that sustainable bioenergy has a key role to play in reducing GHG emissions in the EU energy mix, while at the same time decreasing fossil fuel dependence and building a circular economy. The promotion of bioenergy in the EU should be based on sound sustainability criteria, including the requirement to reduce GHG emissions significantly without compromising on other environmental impacts. The EU has leadership in innovative bioenergy technologies; however, deployment remains limited for advanced biofuels applications.
Renewable fuels, and especially biofuels, are key to reducing the fossil carbon footprint in transport segments that will continue to rely on internal combustion engines and complement the significant market impact that new mobility modes are expected to make. Biofuels can contribute to carbon neutrality in transport and other sectors in reducing the use of fossil energy sources, for example as drop-in fuels in internal combustion engines, as hydrogen carriers in hydrogen fuel cells, as renewable fuels in solid oxide fuel cells and in enzymatic biofuel cells, etc. offering the advantage of easy and safe storage, distribution and use.
In order to maximise the potential for carbon-neutrality in the transport sector IWG8 urges a balanced approach where all of the solutions are treated neutrally and based on their sustainability performance in a holistic scope. In order to meet energy and climate targets sustainable biofuels, green electrification, hydrogen and other solutions will need to be developed in harmony.
IWG8 is focusing on driving the development of bioenergy for sustainable transport. In order to succeed and achieve the ambitions in the SET-Plan, it is essential to put bioenergy in a systemic perspective and find new and innovative ways by combining a wide range of solutions to replace and reduce the consumption patterns of energy in society.
Read the full paper here:
https://www.etipbioenergy.eu/images/SET4BIO/SET4BIO_Bioenergy_for_a_green_economy.pdf