The November report claims that the Promotion of Renewable Electricity (RES-E), Biofuels and Landfill Directives as well as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) and parts of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are "some of the most important drivers behind the growth of bioenergy in the EU-27 today".
The paper compares the implementation of the three directives in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands, which it says provide a "barometer for bioenergy utilisation in the EU" in an effort to make policy recommendations for research, development and demonstration (RD&D) actions to meet the targets of the directives.
The authors find that the RES-E Directive has encouraged most EU member states to set national targets for renewable energy, with Finland close to achieving its goal of 31.5% by 2010 and Germany and the Netherlands on track to meet theirs. They argue that future research should prioritise improving the efficiency and utilisation of advanced co-firing technologies, "the most straightforward and immediate opportunity to increase the share of bioenergy", over developing new technologies.
The Biofuels Directive, with its voluntary target of having a 5.25% share of biofuels in providing EU transport fuel by 2010 and an obligatory 10% in 2020, has also had an impact in many member states, which have started to produce liquid biofuels at a rapid pace, the paper observes.
However, the overall share of biofuels stood at a mere 1% in 2005, meaning that liquid biofuel consumption would have to almost double every year to reach the 2010 target, it points out. But it argues that this is nevertheless possible if RD&D focus on bringing sustainable second-generation biofuels to the market.
The Landfill Directive, on the other hand, has produced diverse approaches to reaching the target of a 65% diversion of municipal solid waste from landfills by 2016, the report states. The only way this can be reached is by increasing thermal treatment and energy recovery in the EU, it says. "There is no blanket solution" but all strategies should be devised according to national and local situations, it adds.
The report also points to the need to improve the role of the EU-ETS in supporting bioenergy use in Europe and enforcing common policies to dismantle "technical, economic and social barriers farmers face in agro-biomass production".
"Building sustainable production pathways and addressing competition with food products is crucial to developing environmentally-sound biofuels," the authors conclude.
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