Workshop: Quantifying biodiversity impacts in bioenergy systems

13 Jun, 2024
Location: Stockholm / online
Task 45RegularIEA Bioenergy

Location: Stockholm, The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA), Drottninggatan 95B, and on Teams (hybrid event)
Time: 13 June 2024, 10:30 to 15:30 CEST (including lunch 12:00-13:00)

Organizers:

  • Lund university and the BIOPATH project (https://www.mistrabiopath.se);
  • IEA Bioenergy Task 45 – Climate and Sustainability Effects of Bioenergy within the broader Bioeconomy (https://task45.ieabioenergy.com);
  • Practical support from The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (https://www.ksla.se)

Background: The increased awareness of the state of biodiversity has resulted in an urge to address biodiversity loss and contribute to a transformation towards sustainable use of natural resources. For this, there is a need for governance systems that assist and accelerate the integration of biodiversity considerations into decision-making around the management of natural resources.
This workshop is organized as part of two ongoing projects: Pathways towards an efficient alignment of the financial system with the needs of biodiversity (BIOPATH), funded by MISTRA – the Swedish foundation for strategic environmental research, and Quantifying biodiversity impacts in bioenergy systems, funded by IEA Bioenergy Task 45, a Technology Collaboration Programme set up by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to facilitate cooperation and information exchange between countries concerning bioenergy research, development and deployment.

Objective: Provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in assessing biodiversity impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA) and using assessment outcomes to inform decisions affecting land use and land-use-change. Special focus will be placed on land use and biomass production associated with bioenergy systems.
Workshop presentations will be published on the web after the workshop. A report will be published later in 2024, drawing on workshop outcomes and analyses carried out within the BIOPATH project.

Programme
10:30-10:40 Welcome and presentation of participants – Pål Börjesson, Lund University and BIOPATH & Göran Berndes, Chalmers University of Technology and IEA Bioenergy Task 45
10:40-10:50 Presentation of the BIOPATH programme – Henrik Smith, Lund University and BIOPATH
10:50-11:05 Methods and models for biodiversity impact assessment in LCA – A critical review – Serenella Sala, Joint Research Centre
11:10-11:25 The Biodiversity Value Increment method for holistic valuation of biodiversity in LCA – Jan Paul Lindner, Augsburg University
11:30-11:45 Sustainable harvest levels of forest fuels – An quantitative assessment approach – Cecilia Akselsson, Lund University
11:45-12:00 Biodiversity indicators from remote sensing data – Can biological diversity be measured? – Eva Lindberg, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
12:00-13:00 Lunch break
13:00-13:15 Biodiversity impact assessment of logging residue recovery – A case study of Kraftringen CHP plant – Anton Kvarnbäck, Lund University
13:15-13:25 Reflections from an energy company perspective – The need of a practical and reliable tool – Sara Kralmark, Kraftringen AB
13:30-14:30 Workshop – Examples of open questions to discuss:

  • What kind of data (indicators), including level of spatial resolution, are needed to make sufficiently valid assessments of the impact on biodiversity from biomass production systems (which are also suitable for bioenergy actors)?
  • How is the current accessibility of such data in different countries and regions around the world, and how does the future development of appropriate data (indicators) look like?
  • What kind of impact assessment methods covering biodiversity are the most promising today, and what kind of further improvements are needed, e.g. in the development of meaningful and reliable LCA’s?
  • What are the most crtical challenges today in the development of a practical and reliable approach to assessing biodiversity impacts in LCA and using outcomes to inform decisions affeting land use and land-use change?
  • Are there any specific challenges related to land use and biomass production associated with bioenergy systems?
  • Other questions from participants?

14:30-14:45 Coffee break
14:45-15:15 Workshop – Summarizing: Proposals of actions and strategies to overcome critical barriers identified – The way forward
15:15-15:30 Concluding remarks – Henrik Smith, Göran Berndes & Pål Börjesson