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Bioenergy: a sustainable energy solution?

Bioenergy: a sustainable energy solution?. Melanie Coath, Senior Climate Change Policy Officer RSPB. The RSPB. The RSPB is the UK partner of BirdLife International Our mission is to save nature We aim to stop biodiversity decline in the UK & globally by 2020 We have: 1,080,000 members

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Bioenergy: a sustainable energy solution?

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  1. Bioenergy: a sustainable energy solution? Melanie Coath, Senior Climate Change Policy Officer RSPB

  2. The RSPB • The RSPB is the UK partner of BirdLife International • Our mission is to save nature • We aim to stop biodiversity decline in the UK & globally by 2020 • We have: • 1,080,000 members • 20,000 volunteers • 210 nature reserves • Climate change is a key strategic priority • Greatest long-term threat to nature

  3. Summary • Building on experience • Our vision for bioenergy • Woodfuel and wildlife • Woodfuel and the climate • Getting it right

  4. Biofuels: let’s not make the same mistakes • Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2011): “European biofuel targets are unethical, violate human rights and damage the environment” • The OECD, World Bank, IMF, FAO et al. (2011) called on: “G20 governments [to] remove provisions of current national policies that subsidise (or mandate) biofuels production or consumption”

  5. The RSPB’s vision • A bioenergy sector that makes a significant contribution to meeting the UK’s renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission targets in harmony with nature

  6. The DECC wetland biomass competition

  7. Woodfuel and wildlife

  8. East and East Midlands Woodland Biodiversity Project • English Woodland Grants Scheme provisions • Wildlife benefits • £12m timber + woodfuel local rural economies

  9. Woodfuel and the climate

  10. Traditional life cycle analysis • Fuel for transport • Emissions from nitrogen fertilisers • Land use change • Conversion efficiency • Domestic heat • Industrial CHP • Electricity only

  11. Carbon: the bigger picture • Carbon debt • foregone sequestration • Indirect land use change • displacing food production • Indirect substitution • displacing timber production

  12. “The results of the studies would seem to indicate that the use of roundwood for bioenergy would cause an actual increase in GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels in the short-term (10-20 years) while it would become carbon neutral and eventually mitigate in the long-term (centuries)” • Joint Research Council (2012)

  13. “Producing energy from biomass is meant to reduce GHG emissions. But burning biomass increases the amount of carbon in the air if harvesting the biomass decreases the amount of carbon stored in plants and soils, or reduces ongoing carbon sequestration [...] legislation that encourages substitution of fossil fuels by bioenergy, irrespective of the biomass source, may even result in increased carbon emissions” - Opinion of the EEA Scientific Committee on Greenhouse Gas Accounting in Relation to Bioenergy (2011)

  14. Where is biomass coming from?

  15. Getting it right

  16. Getting it right • Robust sustainability standards • Full carbon accounting • Utillise heat • Appropriate use of woody resources

  17. A sustainable woodfuel industry that delivers for people, wildlife and the climate melanie.coath@rspb.org.uk @melaniecoath

  18. Thank you melanie.coath@rspb.org.uk @melaniecoath

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