Bioenergy Europe welcomes the long-awaited REPowerEU plan of the European Commission to gradually reduce Russia's dependence on fossil fuels. However, they regret that the plan still lacks the necessary vision to recognize sustainable bioenergy as one of the key solutions to increase the EU's energy security.
The plan refers to bioenergy in only one paragraph, recognizing its contribution to the renewable energy mix (which accounts for almost 60% of the total) and foresees moderate but steady growth of the sector until 2030. The plan lacks a proposal for concrete measures or objectives in the statement, which shows that the European Commission has a lack of vision to pave the way for concrete and immediately available solutions such as solid biomass. Given the current geopolitical context, this is simply unacceptable.
“As the Commission fails to properly consider bioenergy, we are missing a huge opportunity to ensure energy security and provide European citizens with renewable heat at an affordable price in the next season,” says Jean-Marc Jossart, Secretary General of Bioenergy Europe. “Russia's fossil fuel imports are being replaced by other fossil fuel imports and are only creating new dependencies that only shift the problem rather than solving it.”
Indeed, it is essential to provide modern and renewable heating solutions for households. European citizens need alternatives to independent and affordable energy supply options. An ambitious plan is needed to replace old and inefficient heating systems with modern systems that efficiently deliver sustainable bioheat to homes while improving air quality.
Diversification of energy supplies in the EU will be crucial to ensure true independence from Russian fossil fuel imports. With the plan aimed at the rapid deployment of renewable energy sources, play and will all types of bioenergy solutions play an important role in securing the supply of clean energy through space heating in buildings, grid stabilization, increasing renewable energy production, decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries and the deployment of new needed technologies such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
The bioenergy industry is highly diversified and therefore a... more holistic approach to the sector is needed. Therefore, considering only biomethane in the plan represents only a fraction of the enormous supply and potential of this sector, which comes with raw materials from forests, agriculture and the management of residues and waste from various industries. The affordability of bioenergy as a solution compared to other proposed solutions has not been sufficiently elaborated in the presented plan. Transparency about the actual costs and CO2 savings of each option is required to assess the short- and long-term impacts.
Bioenergy has only become more competitive in recent months and will continue to grow in Europe across all sectors of society: electricity production, industry, transport, agriculture and heating. Moreover, there is an unlocked potential of underutilized biomass. Residues (e.g. from road management, parks, forest management etc.) should be used in a cost-effective manner to produce renewable energy rather than left to rot on the ground or burn in uncontrolled open field fires.
“If Europe is serious about meeting higher renewable energy targets, it must set out a clear strategy with ambitious but achievable targets for each sector,” said Irene di Padua, the association's policy director. “In this context, the idea of limiting the support or even the use of primary woody biomass will only hinder our local renewable industry without ensuring further sustainability and biodiversity protection.”
Source: Bioenergy Europe
