COP24 Brings New Bioeconomy Strategy from UK, $200B from World Bank and More

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) Amid rumors of President Trump’s coal and fossil-fuel side event at COP24 (the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Poland this week and a Swedish 15 year old climate activist who tells it like it is, all hope for biofuels and bioenergy is not lost with several positive announcements coming out of the meetings. The United Kingdom and World Bank in particular have some exciting news.

But first, why is it such a big meeting anyway? It marks the third anniversary since the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015 at COP21, which means it is the deadline agreed to by signatories to adopt a “work program for the implementation” or rulebook of what they promised to do back in 2015.

“If the UK is able to seize the opportunities available, and overcome barriers that have limited the commercialisation of successful research in the past, then this should have a direct impact on UK exports of bioeconomy goods and services, and make the UK a more attractive place for overseas investment in bio-resources. In turn, these should have a positive impact in terms of improving the productivity of the UK economy, and increasing prosperity.”

More prosperity for the UK means more prosperity for others too, like Virgin Atlantic and Illinois-based LanzaTech and their carbon utilization technology. Virgin Atlantic’s Emma Harvey told The Digest, “We hope that the UK’s new bioeconomy strategy launched last week could be just the vehicle to help us secure the world’s first, full-scale jet fuel plant using LanzaTech’s groundbreaking carbon and utilisation (CCU) technology right here in the UK.”

The Bioeconomy Strategy outlines why, left to its own devices, the market may not direct the optimal level of resources into the bioeconomy. Thus, the government’s role will be to help deliver what they call “Clean Growth Strategy.” They plan on doing this by helping with coordination failures – in other words, government coming in and helping bring diverse actors together to facilitate more effective outcomes and help balance the benefits of intellectual property protection.

One case study they refer to as how the bioeconomy can help solve our challenges is Advanced Plasma Power’s gasification technology. Their £27m (about $34 million) facility, which is close to completion, will convert 10,000 tons of household waste per annum into 1,500 tons of renewable transport fuel. The world-first plant was made possible by an £11m (about $14 million) grant from the Department for Transport’s Advanced Biofuel Demonstration Competition.

World Bank made a major announcement at COP24 that they will invest $200 billion over five years for countries to take climate action to meet their 2021-2025 climate targets. This is double their current five-year investments.

A key priority is boosting support for climate adaptation, recognizing that millions of people across the world are already facing the severe consequences of more extreme weather events, according to their press release. By ramping up direct adaptation finance to reach around $50 billion over FY21-25, the World Bank will, for the first time, give this equal emphasis alongside investments that reduce emissions.

“There are literally trillions of dollars of opportunities for the private sector to invest in projects that will help save the planet,” said IFC CEO Philippe Le Houérou. “Our job is to go out and proactively find those opportunities, use our de-risking tools, and crowd in private sector investment. We will do much more in helping finance renewable energy, green buildings, climate-smart agribusiness, urban transportation, water, and urban waste management.”

Excerpt from Bio-based World News: David Newman, managing director at trade body Bio-Based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBiA), gave the strategy a lukewarm response. Although he welcomed the strategy, he told Bio-Based World Newsin a statement that the strategy set out a “trajectory but was very short on policies and actions”.

He added: “Perhaps this was to be expected but some will find the lack of policy direction somewhat disconcerting – at times it appears to be a document compiled from a wish-list of contributors like ourselves, without determining where government will intervene in practice. For example, we have phrases such as “we must support different disciplines working together, using this to unlock their full potential and helping to solve challenges at all stages of research and development across the bio-economy.”

Newman said there was nothing to object to with the latter phrase, but it was lacking in “how?” details.

Dr Adrian Higson, company director and lead consultant for bio-based products for UK bio-economy consultants NNFCC, echoed Newman’s sentiments. He told Bio-Based World News: “We welcome the publication of the strategy which represents two years of stakeholder consultation and development. However, it is disappointing that the strategy is limited on concrete policy actions and in many ways fails to give the UK bio-economy a much-needed boost.

“The recent closure of key ethanol assets and the cessation of the successful IB Catalyst innovation programme (R&D industrial biotechnology programme) are disappointing; with stronger government ambition and support these closures could have been avoided. There’s now a lot work required to the turn the Strategy’s aspirations into real actions, this includes immediate action to secure the Bioeconomy Sector Deal necessary to reach the target of doubling the value of the UK’s bio-economy by 2030.”

Separately, the UK government announced in the strategy that it will create a new governance group to support, monitor and evaluate the delivery of the bio-economy strategy and related activities. Industry leaders will need to work with representatives from government, research and innovation bodies to provide leadership and guidance in the delivery stage of this strategy, the UK government said in a statement. READ MORE