Energy from biomass: the size of the global resource - An assessment of the evidence that biomass can make a major contribution to future global energy supply

Executive summary: Why this report? Many future energy scenarios indicate a prominent role for bio-energy (fuels, heat and power from biological matter or biomass), but there is significant controversy around the potential contribution of biomass to global energy production. This stems from the environmental and social risks that could be associated with producing biomass. Concerns include the sustainability of increasing crop yields and intensifying agriculture, the prospect that competition for land will impact on food production, and the potential for environmentally damaging land use change. The controversy surrounding sustainable biomass supply feeds further controversy related to the long term role of bio-energy and the appropriateness of policies to promote its utilisation and development. This report aims to support informed debate about the amount of biomass that might be available globally for energy, taking account of sustainability concerns. It uses a systematic review methodology to identify and discuss estimates of the global potential for biomass that have been published over the last 20 years. The assumptions – both technical and ethical – that lie behind these are exposed and their influence on calculations of biomass potential described. The report does not seek to determine what an acceptable level of biomass production might be. What it does is reveal how different levels of deployment necessitate assumptions that could have far reaching consequences for global agriculture, forestry and land use; ranging from a negligible impact to a radical reconfiguration of current practice. The report also examines the insights the literature provides into the interactions between biomass production, conventional agriculture, land use, and forestry. [...]