THE CONTEXT
Bioenergy is the form of renewable energy with the highest potential impact on biodiversity. Recent studies comparing the biodiversity footprints of three major renewable energy options (bioenergy, wind and solar) under various future scenarios show that, in all scenarios, bioenergy conflicts most with biodiversity protection due to its high potential in key biodiversity areas: half of global bioenergy production potential is located in top biodiversity areas, and three-quarters of this falls on unprotected land. The overlap between high bioenergy potential and top biodiversity areas was found to be highest for Central America (86%) and about 40% in other continents, including Europe. Many studies indicate that the benefits of bioenergy for global power consumption are overturned by its dramatic environmental costs due to its much higher land requirements per energy unit.

Biofuels
While biofuels play an important role in the EU's GHG emission reduction targets for the transport sector, their production typically takes place on cropland previously used for growing food or feed. Biofuel feedstock cultivation affects biodiversity both directly and indirectly via land-use change, overexploitation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Direct impacts ensue from habitat conversion for energy crops. A recent (2021) data synthesis from 116 sources showed that local species richness and abundance were 37% and 49% lower at sites planted with first-generation biofuel crops than in sites with primary vegetation. Second-generation or advanced biofuels also had significant – though lower – impacts, with species richness and abundance lowered by 19% and 25%.

Indirect impacts result from displacement of food and feed production, leading to the extension of agricultural land into natural habitats such as forests, wetlands and peatlands. This process of indirect land use change (ILUC) threatens both biodiversity and climate change as it releases CO₂ stored in trees and soil, and can cancel the emissions reductions resulting from biofuel deployment.

RELEVANT EU POLICIES ON BIOFUELS
The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 recommended that the use of food and feed crops for energy production – whether produced in the EU or imported – be minimised.

The EU's recast Renewable Energy Directive (REDII, 2018) raised the for the share of renewable energy used in transport to 14% by 2030, while also strengthening sustainability criteria for its use: it stipulates that production of agricultural raw material for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass, and the incentives REDII provides to promote their use, should not negatively impact biodiversity. It specifies no-go areas for agricultural biomass: bioenergy cannot be directly produced from land that was, at any time after 2008, classified as highly biodiverse grassland, primary forest, highly biodiverse forest, or protected areas.

To address the ILUC issue, REDII regulates the use of high ILUC-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. EU countries will still be able to use (and import) these fuels, but not to include them towards fulfilling their renewable targets. These limits impose a freeze equivalent to 2019 levels for the period 2021-2023, gradually decreasing thereafter to zero by 2030. Fuels certified as low ILUC-risk are exempted from these limits. For the implementation of this approach, the EC adopted the Delegated Regulation on indirect land-use change (2019) which lays down provisions to identify high ILUC-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, and sets out criteria to certify those with low ILUC risk. It also adopted the accompanying report on the status of production expansion of relevant food and feed crops worldwide based on the best available scientific data. Specific rules and guidance for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels have been included in the Implementing Regulation on sustainability certification, adopted by the EC in June 2022.

The proposal for the revision of REDII (2021), as part of the Fit-for-55 package, seeks to replace the for a 14% share of renewable energy in transport by a 13% greenhouse gas intensity reduction. Expressing the transport in terms of GHG intensity reduction is expected to stimulate innovation and increasing use of more cost-effective and high-performance fuels. This new is also considerably more ambitious than the REDII, as it corresponds to roughly 25-29% renewable energy in transport. In order to minimise associated environmental impacts such as pressure on land and biodiversity, the proposal further promotes a gradual shift away from conventional biofuels to advanced biofuels. Typically produced from non-recyclable waste and residues as well as renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs), advanced biofuels do not directly compete with food or feed production. To this end the proposal seeks to raise the subtarget for advanced biofuels from at least 0.2 % in 2022 to 0.5% in 2025 and 2.2 % in 2030, and introduces a 2.6% sub-target for RFNBOs.

Woody biomass
High worldwide demand for wood-based biomass is threatening biodiversity via more intensive forestry, risk to protected areas and primary forests, burning of whole trees, and new tree plantations that do not support the same range of species, thus raising serious concerns for the sustainability of biomass consumption.

In the EU, the overall use of wood-based biomass has increased by 20% since 2000. It currently accounts for 60% of total renewable energy consumption and the amount used for energy increased by about 87% between 2000 and 2013. Thereafter, it has increased at a slower pace, and is projected to continue increasing in amount, though its share in total renewable energy production might decrease by 2030. The increased renewable energy of 40 to 45% can additionally impact the use of woody biomass. The EU's bioenergy production is currently based on 49% secondary wood (forest industry by-products and recovered post- consumer wood). Primary wood constitutes between 37% and 51% of all woody biomass used for energy in the EU. Reported statistics account for 37% (stemwood, treetops, branches, etc.) while the remaining 14% is uncategorised, but analysis of woody biomass flows indicates it is likely to be primary wood. Wood-based biomass can contribute to a collective solution to both climate change and biodiversity crises – but only if produced sustainably and used efficiently. This is especially critical considering that Europe's forest ecosystems are not in good condition.

RELEVANT EU POLICIES ON WOODY BIOMASS
The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) for the 2010–2020 period applied sustainability criteria only to biofuel and bioliquids. The recast Renewable Energy Directive (REDII, 2018) extended their scope to solid biomass and biogas used in large-scale heating/cooling and electricity installations. REDII also introduced new sustainability criteria for forest biomass to ensure compliance with sustainable forest management laws and principles including minimisation of biodiversity impacts and proper accounting of the carbon impacts of bioenergy in the LULUCF sector. The REDII definition of environmentally sustainable bioenergy focuses on biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. Additionally, in 2020 the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 recommended that the promotion of advanced biofuels produced from waste and residues be applied to all forms of bioenergy, and the use of whole trees for energy production be minimised. The new EU Forest Strategy (July 2021) stated that bioenergy will continue to play a notable role in the energy mix if biomass is produced sustainably and used efficiently, in line with the cascading principle and taking into account the Union’s carbon sink and biodiversity objectives as well as the overall availability of wood within sustainability boundaries.

Whilst REDII was a step forward in ensuring the sustainability of EU bioenergy production, recent scientific evidence and the EU's increased climate and biodiversity ambition call for further safeguarding the sustainability of forest-based bioenergy. The 2021 JRC report on the use of woody biomass for energy production in the EU, initiated in this connection, identifies several improvements to minimize damaging pathways for biomass provision.  Among its sustainability criteria REDII specified no-go areas for agricultural biomass, but these did not apply to forest biomass, except for the protected areas criterion. The report strongly recommends expanding such land criteria to forests to further ensure that forest biomass for energy is not associated with destructive afforestation pathways such as those on high-nature value grasslands or anthropogenic heathlands, and forbidding the sourcing of wood from plantations on converted old-growth primary forest. The report also reveals considerable inconsistencies in reporting forest-related data and emphasises the importance of improving their availability and quality, in particular relating to the energy use of wood. It compared the impacts of various forest management strategies and pathways on both biodiversity and climate change. The win-win pathways identified include slash removal below the landscape threshold and afforestation of former arable land with mixed or naturally regenerating forests. Lose-lose pathways include removal of coarse woody debris and low stumps, and conversion of primary or natural forests into plantations. However, there are also trade-offs or win-lose pathways: climate mitigation strategies that potentially compromise biodiversity. These include afforestation of natural grassland and anthropogenic heathland with plantations, monoculture plantation on former cropland, and slash removal above the landscape threshold.

Many of the above considerations were incorporated in the proposal for the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (2021) as part of the Fit-for-55 package. It set out additional concrete safeguards, including further strengthened sustainability criteria for bioenergy, extending their scope of application to include forest biomass and enlarging no-go areas for sourcing: prohibiting the sourcing of forest biomass from primary forests and limiting it in highly biodiverse forests and peatlands. It adds further elements to minimise the negative impact of harvesting on soil quality and biodiversity.

However, bioenergy-related emissions are not counted in the energy sector, but in the LULUCF (land use, land use change and forestry) sector. REDII thus assumes zero emissions at the point of biomass combustion. Furthermore imported biomass and biofuels do not add emissions in the LULUCF sector in the EU, but can be significant drivers of deforestation on a global level. The LULUCF Regulation (2018) states that the sector, including agricultural land, has a direct and significant impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and underscores the importance of coherence with the EU-BDS 2030. However, the provisions under the LULUCF Regulation do not safeguard against negative impacts from enhanced bioenergy use or other land-use policies on biodiversity. It thus needs additional safeguards, such as the legally binding EU nature restoration targets in EU-BDS 2030 and enhanced sustainability criteria under a revised REDII. The proposal (2021) to amend the LULUCF Regulation includes aligning its objectives with related policy initiatives on biodiversity and bioenergy and merging, as of 2030, the LULUCF sector with the non-CO₂ agricultural sector in a new climate pillar which would have to achieve climate neutrality by 2035. The impact assessment accompanying the proposal identifies significantly decreasing net LULUCF removals as a major problem, driven by natural disturbances such as forest fires, heatwaves, drought, pests etc. that are exacerbated by climate change and biodiversity loss, and will in turn affect the functioning of ecosystem services. It also identifies missed opportunities to strengthen synergies between climate action and biodiversity action due to challenges in monitoring and reporting climate information on areas of special importance for biodiversity.