As part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and thus mitigate climate change, the use of bioenergy is gathering pace around the world. Countries' desire to become less energy-dependent in the face of rising petroleum prices, as well as innovations in technology, are further speeding up the adoption of alternatives to fossil fuels.
A session at the 18th UN Climate Change Conference in Doha last December brought together bioenergy experts to discuss trends and best practices in bioenergy development. Ravi Prabhu, Deputy Director-General for Research at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), said the bioenergy discussion must extend to finding models that are pro-poor and that foster sustainable development, particularly in rural areas.
"Rural areas are starved for energy, without which transforming smallholder agriculture into successful agribusinesses is going to be very difficult," he said.
Panelist Hugo Lucas, Director for Policy Advice and Capacity Building at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), said the future of bioenergy is bright. “If you sum up the potential of fuels from biomass, you can meet all of the world’s energy demand,” he stated, adding that the debate on biofuels is not a simple one; "Whether biofuel crops are good or bad depends on management practices.”
Biodiesel and bioethanol are projected to come down in cost as a result of rapid technological progress and better delivery systems, Lucas said. "This is good news, because liquid fuels [as opposed to electricity and gas] are the only viable way to turn transport green."
Various oil-bearing plants such as palm, jatropha, sunflower and mustard, can be used to produce biofuel. Palm oil is currently the most important raw material for biodiesel, with Indonesia leading world production.
The Head of Indonesia’s National Task Force on REDD+ and Head of the President’s Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight, H.E. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, discussed his country's successes and plans for the palm-oil-based biodiesel industry.
"The supply–demand arena for biofuels is shifting, influenced by price and technology, fossil fuel subsidies, and population pressure," he said, mentioning an effort to optimize palm yields in Indonesia; palm oil productivity (measured as the ratio of agricultural outputs to inputs) in Indonesia is only around half that in Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil producer.
Another panelist, Jason Funk, described a smallholder biogas project ran by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) India program and local NGO partners, which, by the end of 2012, had built and installed 58,000 biogas units and over 80,000 efficient woodstoves in households in India. "The two innovations are cutting CO2 emission, reducing indoor air pollution, and opening up new income-generation opportunities, e.g. for artisans fabricating the equipment," said Funk.
Session discussant Rodrigo CA Lima, General Manager with the Institute for International Trade Negotiations in Brazil, said there is no single recipe for energy. "We need to embrace the complexity of the world and work accordingly." Fellow discussant Marja-Liisa Tapio-Bistrom, Senior Climate Change Officer with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) agreed, adding that the future face of agriculture is diversified and complex—biofuel crops, for instance, will be increasingly grown in agroforestry systems, by millions of smallholder farmers.
The shift to cleaner, greener fuels is gaining traction, but for success, this development must go hand in hand with policies that address what Prabhu called "pervasive issues," such as land tenure, competition for natural resources, food security, poverty reduction, social equity and inclusiveness, and environmental sustainability.
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REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks, as a means to mitigate the impacts of land and forest degradation on climate change.
The panel discussion "Biofuels – Getting Rid of the Hype" was hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on 1st December 2012. A full list of events at the 18th UN Climate Change Conference with ICRAF participation is here
Download presentations by
Dr. Ravi Prabhu
Dr. Jason Funk and Dr. Richie Ahuja
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External links
Bioenergy training on IRENA website.
IRENA Handbook on Renewable Energy
Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) for Policy Makers and Project Developers
