IEA Bioenergy Annual Report 2022

(IEA Bioenergy) The IEA Bioenergy Annual Report 2022 includes the summary of a special feature article ‘Material and Energy Valorization of Waste as Part of a Circular Model’ prepared by Task 36 (full article available here).

The Annual Report also features a report from the Executive Committee and a detailed progress report on each Task. The document also comprises key information such as Task participation, Contracting Parties, budget tables and lists of reports and papers produced by the Technology Collaboration Programme. READ MORE

IEA Bioenergy is an international collaborative agreement set up in 1978 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to improve international cooperation and information exchange between national bioenergy RD&D programmes. IEA Bioenergy aims to achieve a substantial bioenergy contribution to future global energy demands by accelerating the production and use of environmentally sound, socially accepted and cost-competitive bioenergy on a sustainable basis, thus providing increased security of supply whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy use.

Contents
INTRODUCING IEA BIOENERGY.....................................................................................................................3
INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY................................................................................................................7
IEA BIOENERGY – SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2022.................................................................................9
MATERIAL AND ENERGY VALORIZATION OF WASTE AS PART OF A CIRCULAR MODEL: SUMMARY..........16
PROGRESS REPORT .....................................................................................................................................21
The Executive Committee.......................................................................................................................21
Progress in the Tasks...............................................................................................................................30
TASK 32: Combustion & Emissions .....................................................................................................30
TASK 33: Gasification ..........................................................................................................................36
TASK 34: Liquefaction .........................................................................................................................39
TASK 36: Waste & Circular Economy ..................................................................................................43
TASK 37: Anaerobic Digestion / Biogas...............................................................................................47
TASK 39: Transport Biofuels................................................................................................................51
TASK 40: Biobased Deployment..........................................................................................................55
TASK 42: Biorefining............................................................................................................................60
TASK 43: Biomass Supply ....................................................................................................................65
TASK 44: Energy System / Flexibility ...................................................................................................68
TASK 45: Climate & Sustainability.......................................................................................................73
APPENDIX 1: TASK PARTICIPATION IN 2022 ...............................................................................................77
APPENDIX 2: BUDGET IN 2022: SUMMARY TABLES....................................................................................78
APPENDIX 3: CONTRACTING PARTIES .........................................................................................................80
APPENDIX 4: LIST OF REPORTS....................................................................................................................81
APPENDIX 5: KEY PARTICIPANTS IN EACH TASK..........................................................................................87
APPENDIX 6: EXCO REPRESENTATIVES IN 2022 ..........................................................................................98

Key messages
The main results and recommendations emerging from recent work conducted within the IEA Bioenergy TCP and its 11 Tasks are summarised below.

• Reaching climate neutrality globally requires an unprecedented, rapid transformation of all sectors of society and especially of the energy system. Biomass can have an important role to reduce fossil fuel consumption in the short to medium term – but also has a role in the longer term in difficult to abate sectors, in balance with other renewables, to provide negative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to valorise biogenic process residues.

• The IEA Roadmap ‘Net Zero Emissions by 2050’ recognises bioenergy as an important option, providing around 18% of total energy supply in 2050, and playing a significant role to reach carbon neutrality of the global energy system. A growing role of biomass/biofuels would be needed in industry, transport as well as heat and power production.

• Forest bioenergy, which is mainly based on silviculture residues, thinning and forest industry side streams, is one of the key tools to reach carbon neutrality and diversify the energy supply. However, the sustainability of forest bioenergy is being questioned by a number of NGOs, oftentimes on the basis of misconceptions.

• Bioenergy should not be considered in isolation, but as part of a broader, circular bioeconomy in which materials, food and energy are co-produced.

• In the longer-term Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) will need to be applied where possible to achieve negative GHG emissions. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is one of the critical options to achieve negative emissions, combining renewable energy production with CO2 removal from the atmosphere.

• Sustainability governance is key. There needs to be a clear understanding of what sustainable biomass means and how much can be mobilized. Sustainable biomass sourcing and resource efficiency are key principles.

• Increased efforts for sustainable biomass mobilisation are needed. This also requires connecting a local and dispersed biomass feedstock base with centralised processing at scale.

• The transition of the economic and energy systems is accelerating. Companies and sectors (energy providers, transport sectors, industries, …) are taking concrete steps towards climate neutrality.

• Priorities of biomass use for energy will evolve and are gradually shifting to difficult-to-electrify sectors (e.g., aviation).

• Reliable and coherent political framework conditions are of key importance to motivate investments and to scale up new technologies.

• Flexibility (short and long term) is one of the key characteristics of bioenergy in an energy system with increasing shares of variable renewables. READ MORE