Bioenergy may be as harmful to the climate as diesel

In the study, the researchers from the University of Kassel and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) conclude that effective CO2 pricing and the effective protection of forests and natural areas in international agreements are necessary in order to contribute to climate neutrality with bioenergy. Without a regulatory land use policy, emissions from deforestation for the production of modern biofuels could be even higher over a period of 30 years than from the combustion of fossil diesel.

"Bioenergy is energy that is obtained from biomass, for example from plants. It therefore requires arable land to produce it," says Dr. Alexander Popp, Professor of Sustainable Land Use and Climate Protection at the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Kassel and co-author of the study. "This results in changes in land use, for example by clearing forests or converting land to grow food. We used computer models to simulate different scenarios for land use and energy policy in order to investigate their impact on CO2 emissions."

In addition, a scenario without bioenergy and therefore with fewer emissions from land use changes was calculated. This enabled the researchers to calculate the emissions from land-use changes in bioenergy production under a wide range of political framework conditions. The approach captures both direct effects from the cultivation of bioenergy and the effects from the conversion of land from food production.

This news is based on a press release from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) dated June 26, 2023: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/de/aktuelles/nachrichten/schlimmer-als-diesel-und-benzin-ohne-co2-bepreisung-in-der-landnutzung-ist-bioenergie-genauso-klimaschadlich-wie-fossile-kraftstoffe

The paper entitled Bioenergy-induced land-use-change emissions with sectorally fragmented policies was published on June 26, 2023 and is available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01697-2