Funded Projects

EU projects and studies on biomass supply and demand, availability assessments and mapping of biomass

Various EU projects (among others) have addressed the availability, mapping and valorisation of biomass resources across Europe:

S2Biom Project - Delivery of sustainable supply of non-food biomass to support a “resource-efficient” Bioeconomy in Europe: The main aim of this project is to support the sustainable delivery of non-food biomass feedstock at local, regional and pan European level through developing strategies, and roadmaps that will be informed by a “computerized and easy to use” toolset (and respective databases) with updated harmonized datasets at local, regional, national and pan European level for EU28, Western Balkans, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

See also the Forestry page for further studies, projects and the EC's sustainable forestry strategy

The Volante Project (Vision of Land Use Transition in Europe) will provide an interdisciplinary scientific basis to inform land use and natural resource management policies and decision-making. It will achieve this by advancing knowledge in land system science and using this knowledge to develop a Roadmap for future land resource management in Europe and will design new methodologies and integrated models to analyse human environment interactions, feedbacks in land use systems, hotspots of land use transitions and identify critical thresholds in land system dynamics. The Roadmap will bring together this science-base with key players in research, policy, business and NGOs, and will be a significant European Science Policy Briefing for the years to come in the promotion of multifunctional and sustainable pathways of land system change.

AquaTerrE - Integrated European Network for biomass and waste reutilisation for Bioproducts aimed to promote the cooperation between research centres, business and other stakeholders in Europe devoted to the research, development and application of biomass and biofuel production and valorisation. The main goal of AquaTerrE was to make an inventory of existing biomass feedstocks in Europe and quantify the potential and identify of the best ones. In addition, to study the best possibilities for implementing different biomass sources in different environments to improve their utilisation. Pursuing this target, literature and data survey and current research review will be carried out. AquaTerrE will also mapo European biomass feedstocks using different tools, such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

BEE - Biomass Energy Europe (FP7 - 213417) aimed to harmonise biomass resource assessments, focusing on the availability of biomass for energy in Europe and its neighbouring regions. This harmonisation will improve the consistency, accuracy and reliability of biomass assessments, which can serve the planning of a transition to renewable energy in the European Union.

The BIOCLUS project was focused on the sustainable use of biomass resources and aims at boosting regional competitiveness and growth in five European cluster regions: Central Finland, Navarre (Spain), Western Macedonia (Greece), Slovakia and Wielkopolska (Poland). This is achieved by:

  • Promoting scientific, strategic and business competence at cluster and consortium level
  • Developing collaboration capabilities in the clusters and consortium level
  • Improving innovation to business environment by mutual learning and by mentoring.

The BIOCLUS project was funded by FP7 and is coordinated by JAMK, University of Applied Sciences, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Biomass Futures (IEE) The Biomass Futures Project assessed the role that biomass can play in meeting EU energy policy targets. It will develop tailored information packages for stakeholders, as well as inform and support policy makers at both the European and national levels. The project will define the key factors likely to influence biomass supply, demand and uptake over the next twenty years (meeting the RED targets). Among other factors, partners will examine the EU heat, electricity-CHP and transport markets; supply and demand dynamics; the effects of indirect land use change, water use and social aspects on future biomass supply, etc.

CEUBIOM - Classification of European Biomass Potential for Using Terrestrial and Earth Observations (FP7 - 213634) aimed to develop a common methodology for gathering information on biomass potential using terrestrial and earth observations. This objective was achieved by the implementation of a systematic assessment work plan resulting in the establishment of a harmonised approach and an e-training tool for dissemination. The e-training environment was an important tool for reaching the much needed European harmonisation, whereas a Stakeholder Platform facilitated access to reliable and common datasets on biomass potential and as such it offered a more efficient use of the available European biomass feedstock.

Earlier studies on biomass resource potential in Europe

Previously, several studies have been conducted at European and global level in order to assess the potentials of different biomass resources for production of bifouels. The respective results present a wide variety of estimates based on various assumptions and hypotheses. Conservative results on total biomass potential come from the EEA study: How much bioenergy can Europe produce without harming the environment? It estimates a total bioenergy potential from agriculture, forestry and waste of almost 300 MtOE in 2030. Of this 142 MTOE will come from agriculture only which is obtained from 19 million hectares of agricultural land. This is equivalent to 12 % of the utilised agricultural area in 2030.

The potential study of VIEWLS (2004) comes with a much higher estimate of 35-44 million hectares of land available for biomass production only in EU-10. VIEWLS does however not take environmental considerations as a stating point. Shift gear to Biofuels - Results and Recommendations from the VIEWLS Project

In 2007, REFUEL and IIASA Land Use Change and Agriculture Programme produced the report: Assessment of biomass potentials for biofuel feedstock production in Europe.

The JRC Action on Sustainability of Bioenergy has looked at availability and sustainability of bioenergy feedstocks in Europe and other countries (e.g. the tropics). The JEC Biofuels Programme (JRC, EUCAR, CONCAWE) also covered availability of biofuels feedstocks. Further activities on availability and sustainability of biofuels are covered by the JRC Biofuels Thematic Programme.

The BeCoTeps project addressed availability and sustainability of biomass for a range of non-food uses, through a series of workshops and associated activities.

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