Not every politician embraces the bioenergy phenomenon. He or she avoids the subject or is outright against it. Some people fear a manure lock-in due to the fermentation of cow manure, others fear the disappearance of forests due to the gasification of wood chips. There are concerns about food displacement and the consumption of high-quality bio-raw materials, here and elsewhere in the world. How sustainable can bioenergy be?
I used to read to my children from the book 'We're going on a bear hunt'. A young family makes a harsh journey through an inhospitable landscape: dark forests, sucking swamps and raging rivers. The message is always: we cannot pass, over or under it. No: we have to get through it! This phrase comes to mind regularly when it comes to biomass. We cannot afford to ignore it. Certainly not in relation to energy.
Bio raw materials are becoming more rather than less important in the energy system. Bioenergy plays a role in the scenarios of the IPCC, the European Commission and Dutch climate policy. For the time being, as a renewable source of energy, especially for applications that are difficult to make sustainable in other ways: fuel, built environment, process heat. And in the meantime, there is a growing understanding that in order to achieve the climate goals, we must also focus on actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere. This happens, among other things, with permanent storage of short-cycle biogenic CO2 (in products or underground). This creates negative emissions: we remove more net CO2 than is added.
The importance of bioenergy will increasingly be defined by the fact that it produces green carbon. This is not only valuable for recording (CCS), but also interesting for application in products and processes (CCU). The National Energy System Program outlines a route until 2050 in which fossil carbon in products is replaced by biogenic carbon or CO2. Bioenergy provides that. In addition to heat or electricity, the process of combustion, fermentation or gasification produces green carbon, crucial for fossil-free chemistry, construction or agriculture.
Bio raw materials will play an increasingly important role in the energy system in the coming years. That is why we should not ignore them, but rather approach them with full attention: making policy, making it more sustainable, checking, enforcing it! There is already a roadmap for sustainable bio-raw materials as well as a sustainability framework for energy use. Get started on this as a government and politician. Secure the knowledge and expertise surrounding this subject and give it constant attention. If necessary, in a dedicated institute. An Expertise Center, for example, for bio raw materials and climate. Perhaps a trade agency that focuses entirely on unlocking and using biogenic residual flows within the framework of sustainability, climate and circular economy. Critical and Constructive: Right Through…
There is every reason to ensure that the growing need for bio-based raw materials is met in a responsible, safe and sustainable manner.
Hoppa: a ready-made sentence for the coalition agreement!
About the author
Marieke van der Werf
Advisor in the field of energy and circular economy
Marieke van der Werf is an advisor at the intersection of sustainability and politics. After her membership of the Chamber, she joined Bureau Publyon, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications as a partner. Marieke has specialized in energy and the circular economy and advises, among others, the Green Gas Platform. She is also chair of the CCU Alliance and initiator of the Negative Emissions Task Force, where biogenic CO2 plays an important role. In addition to her consultancy work, Marieke fulfills supervisory roles at, among others, the Frisian Energy Fund and Spaarnelanden BV.
