Posted on April, 28 2015

Today, there will be the final vote on ILUC in the European Parliament, which also marks the closing of the whole ILUC deal.
 
The first chapter of the bioenergy story will be closed. Good. But what about the rest of bioenergy for heating, cooling and electricity purposes that needs to be regulated regarding greenhouse gas emissions and broader sustainability issues?
 
This issue is key as we know that Member States plan to keep using bioenergy to meet over half of their EU renewable energy targets for 2020 - and that 15% of bioenergy is expected to be consumed in the electricity sector and 65% in the heating sector. Three quarters of this biomass already come from forestry.
 
The Energy Union paper states that the Commission will propose a new Renewable Energy Package in 2016-2017. This will include a new policy for sustainable biomass and biofuels as well as legislation to ensure that the 2030 EU target is met cost-effectively.
 
Today, as the EP will make its final vote on ILUC, a coalition of NGOs including WWF, ActionAid, BirdLife, CAN Europe, EEB, FERN, Greenpeace, OXFAM, Transport & Environment and Wetlands, release a set of recommendations on the role of bioenergy in the EU climate and energy policy post 2020.
 
These key recommendations are:

• Introduce a cap to limit the use of biomass for energy to levels that can be sustainably supplied
• Ensure efficient and optimal use of biomass resources, in line with the principle of cascading use
• Include correct carbon accounting for biomass
• Introduce comprehensive and binding sustainability criteria

Read the full position paper here