Whitepaper | Technologies for a Low Carbon Future: Bioenergy and Biofuels

It is globally recognised that fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas account for 75% of greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of carbon emissions. Energy use in industry produces around 24% of global CO2 emissions. To avoid catastrophic impacts from climate change, emissions need to be halved by 2030 and Net Zero should be achieved by 2050. Reliance on fossil fuel energy therefore must cease and an investment in renewable energy sources must be prioritised.

According to the IEA, modern bioenergy is the largest source of renewable energy globally, accounting for 55% of renewable energy and over 6% of global energy supply. Use of modern bioenergy has increased on average by about 7% per year between 2010 and 2021 and is on an upward trend. More efforts are needed to accelerate modern bioenergy deployment to get on track with the Net Zero Scenario, which sees deployment increase by 10% per year between 2021 and 2030, while simultaneously ensuring that bioenergy production does not incur negative social and environmental consequences.