Bioenergy

Countries and regions making notable progress in advancing bioenergy include: 

• In March 2023 the European Union reached a provisional agreement between the Council and Parliament on the update to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III). The agreement includes strengthening sustainability criteria around the use of biomass for energy by applying the “cascading” principle while incorporating national priorities. The European Union also set a target in 2022 to achieve 35 bcm annual production of biomethane by 2030 (compared to 3.5 bcm today) and launched the Biomethane Industrial Partnership in September 2022 to help support this goal. 
• The United States announced important new funding in 2022 under the Inflation Reduction Act that provides funding for several steps along the bioenergy value chain, including to scale up the use of sustainable biomass and waste resources in the United States to produce sustainable aviation fuels, chemicals and biomaterials including advanced fertlisers, and to spur innovation within these sectors, including in conversion technologies. 
• India extended its Biomass Programme in 2022 to support domestic solid and gaseous biogas production and use to 2026. 
• Australia decided in 2022 to exclude the burning of native forest wood for electricity generation from its renewable energy targets, reversing a decision made in 2015, and thus helping to ensure that bioenergy resources are sustainably sourced. 
  

Bioenergy is an important pillar of decarbonisation in the energy transition as a near zero-emission fuel. Bioenergy is useful because there is flexibility in the contexts and sectors in which it can be used, from solid bioenergy and biogases combusted for power and heat in homes and industrial plants to liquid biofuels used in cars, ships and planes. Furthermore, it can often take advantage of existing infrastructure – for instance, biomethane can use existing natural gas pipelines and end-user equipment, while many drop-in liquid biofuels can use existing oil distribution networks and be used in vehicles with only minor alterations.  

Bioenergy use needs to increase in a wide variety of applications by 2030 to get on track with the NZE Scenario, including the following: 

• Biojet kerosene used in air travel increases from around zero in 2022 to account for 10% of all aviation fuel demand in 2030.  
• Liquid biofuel consumption more than doubles from 2.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d) (4.3 EJ) in 2022 to over 5 mboe/d (10 EJ) in 2030, mainly for road transport.  
• Bioenergy use in industry increases substantially, from supplying a little over 11 EJ (7% of energy use) of energy in 2022 to more than 17 EJ (10%) in 2030, mostly in cement, pulp and paper, light industry and other industry.  
• Biomethane used in the gas grid to heat buildings grows from very small quantities today to reach just under 1.5 EJ in 2030. 
• Bioenergy used for electricity generation provides dispatchable, low-emission power to complement generation from variable renewables. Its use nearly doubles, from generating about 700 TWh of electricity (about 2.5% of total demand) in 2022 to around 1 300 TWh (about 3.5% of total demand) in 2030. 
• Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) – which creates negative emissions by capturing and storing bioenergy emissions that are already carbon-neutral – also plays a critical role. BECCS captured and stored 1.5 Mt of CO₂ in 2022 and increases to around 190 Mt of CO₂ in 2030, offsetting emissions from sectors where abatement will be most difficult.  

Bioenergy is one component of the overall increase in renewable energy in the NZE Scenario.

Total global bioenergy use in 2030 under the NZE Scenario is only about 12% higher than in 2022, although this by itself does not tell the full story. Over 35% of the bioenergy used in 2022 was from biomass for traditional cooking methods such as over open fires – practices that are unsustainable, inefficient, polluting and were linked to over 3 million premature deaths from indoor air pollution in 2021 alone. The use of traditional biomass falls to zero by 2030 in the NZE Scenario, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 on Affordable and Clean Energy. Modern bioenergy usage, which excludes traditional uses of biomass, nearly doubles from about 41 EJ in 2022 (6.5% of total final consumption) to almost 75 EJ in 2030 (around 13% of total final consumption). This requires the average annual rate of growth to increase from 3% over 2010-22 to 8% over 2023-30. 

The NZE Scenario sees the traditional use of biomass in rural areas partly replaced by biogas digesters, bioethanol and solid biomass used in modern cookstoves, providing a source of clean cooking for almost 1.2 billion people by 2030. Sustainable bioenergy also provides a valuable source of employment and income for rural communities, reduces undue burdens on women who are often tasked with fuel collection, brings health benefits from reduced air pollution and proper waste management, and reduces methane emissions from waste decomposition. More needs to be done to phase out the traditional use of biomass, as its use in absolute terms has stayed relatively constant since 2016. 

Bioenergy comes from a variety of different sources. Some bioenergy sources – such as black liquor from paper production – are the by-product of an industrial process that would have taken place anyway. More commonly, though, bioenergy is sourced from purpose-grown crops or trees in a highly land-intensive process relative to other forms of energy. Unsustainable bioenergy production can have social consequences – such as competition for land use and impacts on food prices – as well as negative environmental externalities, such as worsened biodiversity and net increases in emissions.  

Aligning with the NZE Scenario will require bioenergy production to increase, but care must be taken to ensure that doing so does not result in significant negative effects for society or the environment. In accordance with these sustainability considerations, there is no expansion of cropland for bioenergy nor conversion of existing forested land into bioenergy crop production in the NZE Scenario. Under this scenario, in 2030 60% of bioenergy supply comes from waste and residues that do not require dedicated land use, compared to less than 50% today. Innovation and deployment in biofuel conversion technologies will be required to fully unlock the potential of wastes and residues. 

Many jurisdictions are moving to introduce policies that suggest they see a significant long-term role for bioenergy in the energy transition. These include:  

• More than 80 countries currently have policies supporting liquid biofuels. 
• A number of countries, including Canada, China, Lithuania and the United States, have announced since 2021 that they are investing significantly in the research and deployment of biofuels.  
• Additionally, the United States passed the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022, which includes extended and new policy support for biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials, particularly advanced biofuels and sustainable aviation fuels. 
• India extended its Biomass Programme in 2022 to support solid and gaseous biogas production and use across India to 2026. 
• Brazil launched measures to support sustainable biogas production in 2022. 
• Canada implemented its Clean Fuel Regulations in July 2023 with support policies to expand feedstock supply.  
• In 2022 Indonesia, Brazil and Argentina increased biofuel targets in the transportation sector. 

While this progress is positive, bioenergy use has been expanded at a slower rate than is required in the NZE Scenario – expanded policy support is therefore needed.