Sustainable biofuels can provide 10% of world's energy

BiofuelReview.com
Written by Giles Clark, London
Tuesday, 16 December 2008

In the medium term around 10% of the world’s energy needs could be met by sustainable bioenergy from biogenic residues and energy crops, according to a report from the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). However, the report, “Future Bioenergy and Sustainable Land Use”, also warns that utilization of this potential should only be pursued if risks to food security as well as to nature conservation and climate change mitigation targets can be excluded. For this to happen, binding sustainability standards need to be introduced at national and international level.

The report highlights the point that bioenergy achieves the greatest contribution to climate change mitigation when it is used to generate electricity. The key approach is to deploy bioenergy to replace energy sources entailing high CO2 emissions, particularly coal. In the electricity sector the climate change mitigation effect of bioenergy is almost twice that of using biofuels for transport or when bioenergy is used to produce heat alone.

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