Parallel Session 10 – Land Use for Bioenergy and the Bioeconomy

Thursday 24 October 2024, 8.30-10.00 BRT

Moderator: Patrick Lamers (NREL, USA)

Speakers:

Daniella Fartes (CGEE, Brazil): Biofuels scientific knowledge: leading the Brazilian bioeconomy

Selected conclusions and key messages:

  • Land sustains every aspect of our lives (food, water, shelter, culture, recreation, others) and, as a result, is an emotionally charged topic that has been central to many public critiques about the appropriateness of using terrestrial resources for growing biomass for energy or products. Besides, land use references or baselines are the most decisive components determining the carbon intensity of bioproducts or biofuels. From a scientific and governance perspective, we need to appropriately define, regulate, and track land use for the production of biomass to support the bioeconomy across temporal and geospatial dynamics.
  • There are several sustainability concerns of bioenergy, but the main concerns are related to the use of land for dedicated energy crops. Land plays a critical role in meeting various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The production of bioenergy crops can have both positive impacts (synergies) and trade-offs with other SDGs. Sustainability impacts and therefore sustainability trade-offs of biomass feedstock production highly depend on context, e.g. previous land use, feedstock type, biophysical conditions (soil, type and climate), or how the land is managed. Most synergies were found for perennial crops; on marginal land; in cool temperate moist climates; on high activity clay soils. Most trade-offs were found when natural areas are used for dedicated energy crops; disregarding feedstock, climate or soil condition. Nevertheless, there is no point in optimizing sustainability just for energy crops (most land use and crops are multi-purpose). For a sustainable biobased economy, we must consider the entire land use system. Understanding and quantifying trade-offs will enable better informed decision making.

  • Induced land use change (= direct + indirect land use change) impacts are difficult to model. Major market-mediated responses related to vegetable oil markets require systemic analysis of uncertainty when estimating ILUC emissions. Results are highly sensitive to economic and biophysical parameters. In terms of vegetable oil markets, a strong driver of the ILUC results is the oil palm expansion in Southeast Asia, linked to natural land conversion and peatland oxidation.
  • Effective carbon accounting is crucial for sustainable biomass investments and ensuring reliable feedstocks. A G20 initiative lead by IEA has formulated recommendations for improving carbon accounting in biogenic production pathways (see also Plenary Session 3). It concluded that calculating quantitative iLUC factors should be avoided as results are not consistent and depend too much on assumptions. Nevertheless, the iLUC problem should not be ignored. If ILUC cannot be quantified, it is good to show direction and focus on approaches that minimize ILUC risks.
  • A significant portion of biodiversity lives in agricultural landscapes. In fact, full conservation of biodiversity should go beyond protected areas. Wild breeds of domesticated plants and animals are among the most threatened taxonomies. Monitoring is key and it is important to select key indicators for such a monitoring. However, in most cases, we do not know what to monitor and how to do it. A standardized monitoring protocol for fauna and flora would be needed. Temporal heterogeneity is as important as spatial heterogeneity in monitoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.

 

Land use and land cover in Brazil in 2022. Source: Agroicone (based on MAPBIOMAS, 2023).