SOLUTIONS FOR THE GREEN DEAL In its report “World Energy Transition Outlook” released last March, IRENA outlines a pathway for the world to achieve the Paris Agreement goals, based on options to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C and bring CO2 emissions closer to net zero by 2050. The report highlights that the energy transition is already taking place, shaping a new energy system that will be based on renewable technologies, many of which already largely existing today, and acknowledges a very important role for bioenergy together with renewable power and green hydrogen. In the 1.5 °C scenario drawn by IRENA, the share of final energy met with (modern) bioenergy increases to 17% in 2050 from around 1.5% globally today, with a priority for producing advanced biofuels for the aviation and shipping sectors, but also as a feedstock for the chemical industry and for industrial heating. In addition, BECCS would contribute over 52% of the carbon captured over the period to 2050, with applications for power and heat production and in industrial processes such as in cement production. Meeting this target will require a combination of technology and innovation to advance the energy transition and improve carbon management, supportive and proactive policies, associated job creation, socio-economic improvements and international cooperation, to guarantee energy availability and access. In the spirit of BE-Sustainable and of the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, this issue is about solutions to today’s challenges, that can be brought forward by pursuing continuous efforts in research, development, and innovation. For example, in the agricultural sector, years of R&I demonstrate that with an efficient use of agricultural land, integrated food-energy cropping systems could increase biomass availability, while responding to the improved nutrient management and crop rotations obligations, which will likely be set by the new CAP. Another example is agricultural biogas, where the use of lignocellulosic residues such as cereal straw, considered as a quite challenging feedstock for anaerobic digestion, has become a reality in the last years, by improving the pre-treatment process. Thanks also to these innovations, in Denmark the share of biomethane in the gas grid has more than doubled in just one year, from 11% in 2020 to 21.5% in 2021. Now the increasingly large amounts of CO2 recovered from biogas upgrading, could be coupled with the increasing share of renewable electricity from wind and solar and the emerging hydrogen electrolyzing capacity, in power-to-X (PtX) applications to produce methane, methanol and other electrofuels. Hydrogen is one of the main pillars of the Europe’s decarbonization strategy, and a review article in this issue explains that there are ready alternatives to produce renewable hydrogen from biomass that could be also potentially integrated in a biorefinery concept. Other biomass-based solutions are presented in this issue, some of them are closer to market than others, but all of them show that through science, research and innovation, the versatility and the potential of biomass can be harnessed sustainably so that this resource can play its important role towards net zero emissions and other objectives of the EU Green Deal. Enjoy reading.
Maurizio Cocchi Editor
editorial@besustainablemagazine.com
3 Be
