Joint INTA. Expert. Summary. Session. - Soybean. Argentina. cultivation in Argentina. - 40% less fuel. - Higher water. use efficiency.

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1 EUROCLIMA Project Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (EC JRC) INTA Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina Expert Consultation Green House Gasess emissions from biofuels and bioenergy. Summary of presentations, topics adressed and conclusionss Session I: Production of feedstock for biofuels Chair: J. F. Dallemand, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (EC JRC) Rapporteur: C.Pascale, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries, Argentina (MINAGRI) Soybean production in Argentina A Bianchini (AAPRESID) - No-Till system has tangible benefits for the farmers and the society - Soybean cultivation in Argentina is concentrated in the Pampas, natural grassland area with nearly 100 years of agriculture. - Out of 95 Mha of no till agriculture worldwide, 47 Mha in Latin America, including 20 Mha in Argentina - There is an important development of farmers associations spreding awareness on sustainable agriculture and developing certification schemes to promote it as the Productive and environmental quality management system -Argentina agricultural production is based on sustainable practices. - GMOs have had an important role in soya cultivation in Argentina - Widespread adoption of no-till farming in Argentina with the following benefits:. - 90% less soil erosion. - 40% less fuel use. - Maintenance or improvement of the soil organic matter. - Increase in soil fertility (chemical, physical and biological). - Higher water use efficiency. 1

2 - Lower production costs. - Higher production stability and yield potential Argentina Bioenergy National Program J.Hilbert (INTA) Projects in Argentina (INTA) Cooperation Actions The National Bioenergy Program (NBP) works through national projects and coordinates actions within INTA and with external actors at national and international levels. Projects cover first and second generation biofuel developments Biodiesel studies cover Geographic information systems, energy balances, GHG emissions of the whole conversion chain. There are a lot of related projects underway in Argentina covering different environmental aspects. The development of this area may boost a wide research and extension network as well as cooperation actions. Practical indicators on extensive agriculture production F. Frank (INTA THE AGRO-ECO-INDEX MODEL uses agro-ecological indicators as tools to identify and quantify the impacts of agriculture on the environment and allow comparisons among rural farms. This model is based on data provided by farmers voluntarily. Web page of the program EC JRC activities on biofuels L.Marelli (EC JRC) Priorities 1. Sustainability assessment of the use of biofuels. 2. Cost and availability of 2 nd generation biofuels. 3. Technical compatibility, emissions and energy efficiency of vehicles fuelled with biofuels. Comparison of economic models for LUC Discussion: - Models have difficulties to include some important variables (e.g. national agricultural policies). - Are they the only tool available to predict future scenarios? - Models are subject to high uncertainties and provide policy makers with high risk technical inputs. Sustainability Standards 2

3 Global activities towards sustainability of bioenergy, U.Fritsche (Oeko Institute, Germany) Sustainability Standards General models or standards should not be applied to all situations as a rule. IPCC standards should be used as drivers for research processes, but not to determine the final result of such research. Data collection and research is needed for models to work at a more detailed level. Session II GHG Emissions from biofuels Chair: J.Hilbert, INTA Rapporteur: M.M.Rebizo, INAI J. Hilbert (INTA) There are different velocities between the coverage of the topic in the media/society and the development of science. More time needed. INTA made its own estimations of GHG emission using an European tool but with Argentinean values in 6 main area for soy production with no-tillage and conventional system. INTA calculated these values for the 3 main parts of the chain (crop production, processing and transport/distribution). All estimations are over 76% of reduction of GHG emission in comparison with fossil fuel. The best result is in the North of Buenos Aires Province (82.4%) and the worth is in the Southeast of Buenos Aires (76.2%). All of these are very far from the EU RED default value (30.8%). The main differences between both calculations are in crop and processing steps. Local experts intervention is needed in order to develop results for the principal agricultural country actors. There is a need to differentiate feedstock categories between energy crops and food crops where a by-product is used for energy. It is necessary to continue with the cooperation between the INTA and the JRC in order to improve the default values taking into account the data of one of the main suppliers of biodiesel to the EU. GHG Emission from biodiesel Y. Lechon (CIEMAT Madrid) CIEMAT used the EU RED methodology for biofuels produced in Spain from its raw materials and taking into account the agronomic conditions of Spain. They calculated the GHG emission 3

4 with a very high level of desegregation (agricultural counties) for raw material cultivation, processing and transport & distribution. Results were used to comply with RED art 19.2 (Only areas that are below default values in the crop stage are inside the RED This requirement is only for EU biofuel) CIEMAT also made a GHG calculator. For N 2 O emissions, use of the IPPC guideline. The wheat production in almost all counties in Spain doesn t fulfil the art because the GHG emission in the crop stage is over the default value. The opposite is in sunflower and rapeseed production. The GHG county average emission, for the 3 stages, in all biofuels analyzed are below the GHG emission of fossil fuels. The best performance is for sunflower biodiesel from zones with dry conditions and the worst is for thistle biodiesel. Life Cycle Assessment and sustainability calculations for biofuels supply chains M.Black (Imperial College, London) - Global interest and initiatives in bioenergy and biofuels have set out to address environmental, energy and social issues but it is necessary to develop a wider understanding of sustainability (including GHG) in biofuels supply chain as the industry has developed. - It was mentioned that in the LCA calculations several methodological issues can impact on outcomes (eg: co-product treatment, ILUC calculation). - ILUC cannot be directly observed or monitored and the uncertainty should be considered in the development of ILUC policy. - A better understanding of LUC is necessary for the agricultural industry. - The management of land and land use change is a key concern for the future, not just for the provision of feedstock for bioenergy but also if all our food and material demands (and lifestyle expectations) are to be met. GHG Emissions from biofuels in the EU Renewable Energy Directive R. Edwards (EC JRC) - If a producer doesn t agree with the default values, he has other options (calculate actual emissions, make averages for cultivation emissions for defined geographic areas or take a voluntary scheme) - JRC prefers estimating world default values because otherwise every country without a default value could complain. So the default values intend to represent the weighted average emissions of suppliers to EU market (For soy biodiesel they are Argentina, Brazil and the US) - The JRC is updating the input data for the default value for soy oil biodiesel using average information from Argentina, Brazil, US and N 2 O emission from GNOC, assuming IPCC value for below-ground N. - The new draft calculation reduces the emission in cultivation from 19 g CO 2 eq/mj to 9 g CO 2 eq/mj and in processing from 26 g CO 2 eq/mj to 21 g CO 2 eq/mj. It increases it in transport & distribution from 13 g CO2 eq/mj to 14 g CO2 eq/mj. All these changes rise the % of reduction of GHG emission from 30.8% to 50%. If these values were adopted as default values, Argentinean biofuels would meet the % of reduction of GHG emission (35% now and 50% in 2017) of the EU RED. 4

5 SESSION III Issues related to the quantification of GHG emissions from biofuels and bioenergy Chair: M.Taboada, INTA CONICET Rapporteur: R.Edwards, European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC JRC) R.Koeble (European Commission Joint Research Centre). Presented different methods and results to assess spatially soil N 2 O emissions from crop cultivation The Stehfest & Bouwman statistical model combined with IPCC Tier1 approach Global calculations of N 2 O emissions general conditions Advantages - harmonized method for all feedstock types - global application possible - different environmental and management conditions are taken into account as requested by the EU RED Directive - method is more easily reproducible by economic operators or public sector entities to show compliance with the EU RED sustainability criteria Description of the method, input data and results will soon be made publicly available on the following website Input data (fertilizer, crop area / yield, environmental parameters) Miguel Taboada (INTA Described) the impact of soil emissions methodologies and consequences of the development of new methodologies by IPCC. He also showed the latest results on field measurement. Direct emissions of N 2 O almost reaches 3 kg N-N 2 O / ha yr, according to the National Inventory (IPCC 1996, 2004). Direct N 2 O emissions could decrease when new IPCC Guidelines (IPCC 2006) adopted. N 2 O determinations using field chamber and cromatography recently started in pampean agricultural soils. High variability ty in N 2 O emissions as a function of climatic (rainfall, air and topsoil temperature) and edaphic (water filled porosity, [NO 3 ] ) conditions, as well as crop type.results are still scarce but seem to be clearly lower than IPCC estimations G.Posse (INTA) described the methods used to measure N 2 O emissions in the field. Already at this stage there are inconsistencies between measurement methods and model predictions. - INTA is working to understand and reduce the inconsistencies. - There is a lack of measured data for the Southern Hemisphere and for less-common crops. 5

6 Land use monitoring S.Carballo (INTA) S.Carballo pointed out large errors in the land use change in Argentina reported by US EPA. This was based on analysis of MODIS satellite data for 2001 and 2004 (by Winrock International). The biggest mistake was because of floods in Buenos Aires province in The satellite image interpreted the re-emergence of farmland in 2004 image as an increase in crop area and this dominated the LUC in EPA. Discussion Oeko Institute had made 3 case-studies of the impact of errors in MODIS interpretation. In spite of many errors in land-use assignment, the effect on overall carbon emissions was acceptable. Afterwards it emerged that EPA used the satellite data only to estimate the fraction of new cropland coming from different land use types (the area of crop increase is estimated by the economic model). The fraction expanding onto forest is the most critical. This is 8% according to EPA and ~13% according to national experts. U.Fritsche (Oeko-Institut) reported on 3 new publications 1. A new European Environment Agency (EEA) publication on regionalized GHG emissions from heat and electricity from biomass in EU. 2 Report from Oeko-Institut on Indirect Land Use Change and biofuels Land use policy in Brazil and Argentina (and Indonesia) has a significant impact on ILUC emissions for EU biofuels. 3. Better use of biomass for energy. Biomass almost always saves more GHG used for heat and electricity than for biofuels. In the long term, there are alternative ways to save GHG in heat and especially electricity. So we should be ready with biofuels to replace fossil fuel in transport applications including aviation and shipping, where there are few alternatives. Session IV Biofuels/Bioenergy certification initiatives and GHG emissions Chair: M.Almada, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries, Argentina (MINAGRI) Rapporteur: J.Reeves, GBEP, UN FAO GBEP s work in the areas of GHG lifecycle analysis and sustainability indicators for bioenergy (J. Reeves, UN FAO) The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) is a unique forum, where voluntary cooperation works towards consensus amongst governments, inter-governmental organizations and other 6

7 partners in the areas of the sustainable development of bioenergy and its contribution to climate change mitigation. GBEP s Common Methodological Framework for GHG LCA of Bioenergy is a tool to guide GHG LCA, promote transparent communication of methodologies and will now be used as a platform for capacity building. GBEP recently reached provisional consensus on a set of sustainability indicators (8 environmental, 8 social, 8 economic), which form a tool for governments to help inform their policy development. Now working on methodology sheets will be important to make use of work going on in Argentina and elsewhere regarding methodologies and data collection in order to develop practical methodologies. Piloting of the indicators now planned, which will include, where necessary, capacity building and technical cooperation. Further work on capacity building is being discussed countries new to GBEP are welcome to participate starting from next meetings May, 2011 Washington, D.C. CARBIO Certification Scheme F.Pochat (CARBIO) CARBIO is an industry chamber representing 95% of Argentinean biodiesel production and exports. Argentina is the leading soybean, soybean oil and biodiesel exporter in the world and its production stands out in that its crushing plants are significantly larger than in rest of world (e.g. US, Brazil). Argentina s main export market is the EU, so CARBIO developed a certification system to show compliance with the sustainability criteria of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The scheme addresses the RED s land-use change (LUC) criterion by simply demanding that only land used for agriculture on 1 Jan 2008 is allowed for biodiesel production for export to EU. The scheme uses default GHG values for cultivation and transport and actual values for processing. This leads to GHG savings of 40 to 47% actual values for other phases in the supply chain would be required to exceed 50%. The cost of certification is USD per tonne of biodiesel The data requirements on air, water, soil conservation etc. in order to enable reporting requirements of the RED to be fulfilled are as yet unclear. To address and demonstrate sustainability in a broader sense, CARBIO is working through the Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS). ISCC Certification L.Muñoz (Atlas consulting) The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) covers six principles (EU RED LUC; air, soil, water; safe working conditions, including training and education; human, labour and land rights; compliance with locally applicable laws; good management practices). More than 430 companies are registered with the ISCC (78% from the EU). Around 220 certificates have been issued, through 17 certification bodies. 7

8 ISCC has started an integrity process to ensure that audits are done consistently and each certification body and auditor applies the ISCC the same way. It is desirable that auditors have a knowledge of (locally relevant) agricultural management practices. Particular difficulties with soybean supply chain, since horizontally integrated. Further challenge is that small-scale farmers often don t keep (good) records. 3% (in EU) or 5% (elsewhere) of farms need to have been audited for certification. The sample size increases with proximity to High Conservation Value (HCV) areas. Sustainability certification seems to be showing impacts: farmers start to change practices, wanting to be at the cutting edge; financial institutions are requesting proof of sustainability prior to financing; and companies in other markets are following and starting to request proof of sustainability. UK RTFO and GHG emissions M.Black (Imperial College, London) The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation is the UK s domestic policy for promoting the supply of sustainable biofuels, in place since Its development brought together farmers and the oil industry for the first time. The RTFO includes a hierarchy of default GHG lifecycle emission values and asks for reporting on other environmental and social issues, using a meta-standard approach, so that approved certification schemes can be used. 2009/10 results: 3.33% of UK road transport fuel was biofuel; 71% of this was biodiesel; major feedstock was soy (30%), of which 75% came from Argentina. 72% of the data requested was reported; the average GHG saving reported was 51%; 31% of feedstock met the (voluntary) environmental qualifying standard and 26% met the social standard. The RTFO is a voluntary system, helpful in laying foundations for further work (e.g. RED) on biofuels and (some say hopefully) for agriculture more widely. In 2008, the Gallagher Review of the indirect effects of biofuels confirmed concerns over indirect land-use change (ILUC). It brought about a slight slowdown in UK biofuel mandates. It advocated use of wastes, residues, idle and marginal land. UK DfT/RFA commissioned a study using causal-descriptive approach to model GHG emissions from ILUC, rather than economic modelling. UK has no formal position on ILUC and is awaiting results of the EU ILUC consultation. Land-use planning D.Somma (INTA) A participatory approach using multi-criteria analysis has been applied to land-use planning in Salta, with roundtables, expert tables, and local discussions. The need to balance the desire for (short-term) economic development with the (long-term) need to protect natural resources led to difficult discussions. Whilst still challenging to enforce day-to-day, the map produced is a very useful tool. 8

9 Land-use planning should be participatory and the federal government needs to have a presence in the provinces in order to implement land-use planning (as a state policy) and improve natural resource management. Whilst many stakeholders do not appreciate the relevance of certain environmental services, as a factor in decision-making regarding land use, local populations do indeed recognize the need to protect watershed stability. Discussion on ILUC resulted as a consequence of the suggestion that some of the 2mha of deforestation in was caused through soybean displacing cattle in the Pampas, which then moved to forest areas (also some wetland). The Forest Law of 2007 requires that plans for developments that would involve deforestation be approved by provincial and then federal governments. It will help reduce deforestation, but is not a panacea. REDD+ may also become another mechanism to help limit deforestation. Influence of international and national requirements in global trade G.Idígoras (Ministry of Agriculture of Argentina) The Argentinean biodiesel industry faces various regulatory requirements in order to be able to export (including sustainability and fuel quality). Argentina feels that further democratization of the procedure for the development of the EU RED and other legislation affecting third countries, and therefore trade, is required. For example: more time needed to analyse novel concepts; more time needed to develop measures to adapt to requirements; scope for amendments of the rule are not well foreseen; the burden of proof is on the exporting country; there is no room for discussion on the draft requirements; delays and bureaucracy even where there is scientific agreement can affect trade; expert consultations are welcome, but also at the beginning of discussion on draft proposals. Discussion displayed a difference in views regarding whether EU subsidies for biofuels, intended to support the achievement of policy objectives like climate change mitigation, represented a trade barrier or not. 9