Reducing emissions with sustainable bio-based fuels, chemicals, and materials

Reducing emissions with sustainable bio-based fuels, chemicals, and materials?

A GUEST POST WRITTEN BY THE CEM BIOFUTURE INITIATIVE AND CAMPAIGN

#Carbon is ubiquitous today because it is incredibly useful.?To achieve #netzero emissions by 2050 we must dramatically reduce the use of #fossil carbon in the fuels we burn, but we must also de-fossilize the chemicals, plastics, packaging, and materials that are the basis for modern life. Sustainable #bio -based fuels, chemicals, and materials can substitute for their fossil equivalents; however, considerable work is needed to bring the full range of sustainable bio-based products to market at the scale needed to meaningfully reduce emissions.

The CEM Biofuture Platform Initiative provides a collaboration platform for countries, organizations, academia, and engages the private sector via the Biofuture Campaign . We enable global and local actions to accelerate development, deployment, and scale-up of sustainable bio-based alternatives to fossil-based fuels, chemicals, and materials.

Our priority is to identify and share effective approaches to Biomass Quantification and Sustainability Governance. We want to ensure that using bio-based fuels, chemicals, and materials enables the Energy Transition and helps to realize a Circular Economy.

?In the IEA Net Zero Emissions Scenario , sustainable #bioenergy needs to contribute ~20% of total global energy supply by 2050 for the world is to achieve its #climategoals . Bioenergy is already the largest source of renewable energy today and contributes more than half of renewable energy supply in countries that do not have extensive hydropower sources.

Innovators are using cutting edge green biotech to substitute biogenic carbon for fossil carbon in everything from the fabric to plastic bottles to lubricants. Combining biomaterials, like wood and plant fibers, with circular design principles can produce sustainable consumer goods that further reduce demand for fossil carbon.

Bio-based products, include power, heat, fuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, materials, and food products. With deliberate policies and good practices, the use of bio-based products can lead to a range of benefits:

• Energy system reliability and #flexibility . As the fraction of variable renewables grows, using biomass for power will be increasingly prized for its reliability and flexibility.
• #Fuel security. Integrating biogenic carbon into unconventional fuel production chains can ease intrinsic trade-offs between energy security and climate risk.
• #Jobcreation and #ruralcommunities economics. Bioresource production is more labor-intensive than other renewables, and the #bioeconomy can thrive outside of city factories and refineries, presenting opportunities to stimulate jobs and economies in rural areas.
• #Circulareconomy and #wastemanagement . The circular economy emphasizes efficient and repeat use of finite resources. Biorefining closes loops of raw biomass materials, minerals, water, and carbon.
• #Carboncapture #CCS . Bioenergy combined with stable geological storage of carbon (BECCS) is a key option for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere.

Bioenergy and bio-based fuels have applications in hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industry, heavy freight, maritime, and aviation. Sustainable aviation biofuels have taken center stage:

• Earlier this month, at the Farnborough International Airshow, the UK announced its Jet Zero strategy that sets out how the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will achieve net zero aviation by 2050. Sustainable Aviation Fuels are a core part of the Jet Zero strategy.
• On July 7 the @EUParliament voted in support of the ReFuelEU Initiative that seeks to require EU aviation fuel to be 2% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2025 rising to 85% by 2050.
• The USA is pursuing its SAF Grand Challenge that will enable emissions to drop by 20% by 2030.
• WWF South Africa explained how a domestic sustainable aviation biofuels industry could be a pillar of #southafrica 's low-carbon economy and create more than 90,000 green jobs.

Despite its many benefits, uptake of bio-based products faces many market challenges. The economics are promising but not proven in all applications. Many of the products are at early stages of technology readiness, making the investments uncertain. Increased public sector investment in research, development, and deployments are needed to accelerate innovation, improve performance, and reduce costs. In addition, government-funded demonstrations are critical for helping industry cross the proverbial scaling “valleys of death”.

Local biomass supply chains are extremely complex and live at the intersection of the energy, agriculture, forestry, food, water, and materials sectors. For bio-based products to successfully contribute to a net zero economy, the global community must reach agreement on how to assess the sustainability and benefits of biomass production and use.

The Biofuture Platform Initiative is working to enable stable policy frameworks, including coherence between multiple sectors, to enable the transition to a Circular Bioeconomy and encourage private investment. Global cooperation is an absolute requirement, as both market drivers and impacts occur across borders; hence, the pressing need for a collaboration platform to realize a sustainable #biofuture .

We see value in the Biofuture Platform integrating itself through collaboration projects and events with other CEM initiatives as well as Mission Innovation ’s portfolio of Missions, and aim in the coming year to explore synergies and mutual benefits such collaboration can bring.?

We are incredibly excited for the Global Clean Energy Action Forum , hosted by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the City of Pittsburgh (21-23 September). We hope that you can join us, and we look forward to working with you.

?To learn more, contact:

• Jim Spaeth Chair of the Biofuture Platform Initiative
• Gerard Ostheimer , Co-Manager of the Biofuture Campaign
• Samuel Place , Biofuture manager, Clean Energy Ministerial Secretariat