Advanced Biofuels Best for Emissions Targets, Say the Finns

Business News/Analysis, European Union (EU), Feedstocks, Finland, Forestry/Wood/Residues/Waste, Opinions, Policy, R & D Focus, Sustainability

June 18, 2014

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) From Finland, VTT and the Government Institute for Economic Research advise The Digest that have completed a study commissioned by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the Ministry of the Environment, assessing the impact of the EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Framework on Finland’s energy system and national economy.
The increased use of second-generation biofuels in road transport would provide Finland with the most cost-effective way of achieving the greenhouse gas emissions goals presented in the policy framework for the sector outside of the emissions trading system. The impact on the national economy caused by the policy framework is estimated to remain moderate, although there are still uncertainties in the estimates.
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In the project implemented by VTT and VATT, the impact of the emission goals on Finland’s energy system and the national economy was assessed. In the project, calculations were made using three different scenarios, where Finland’s emission reduction goal was 32, 36 or 40 per cent in the sectors outside the EU ETS, which include transport, building heating, waste treatment, agriculture, and some industries. …
“The largest emission reductions in the sectors outside the EU ETS can be achieved in the transport sector by using second-generation biofuels that can be used in existing vehicle fleet. The share of biofuels in road transport would increase to as high as 40% in 2030. Cost optimization in the different scenarios would require the reduction of emissions in all sectors outside the EU-ETS such as in residential and commercial sectors, waste treatment, industry excluded in the EU ETS and agriculture,” says VTT’s leader of the research team Tiina Koljonen.
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“Finland has plenty of wood raw materials and top-level know-how for the production technologies of 2nd generation biofuels. The forest industry has already announced significant investments in next-generation pulp plants, into which the production of bio-refining products could also be integrated,” Koljonen says. “We extensively utilized VTT’s top-level know-how in different fields in the project. The significance of research and development activities is central in combating global warming.” READ MORE

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