Is peat renewable? Presentation Baltic Countries Peat Producers Forum. Vilnius september 5th 2013 Magnus Brandel, Swedish Peat

Transcription

1 Is peat renewable? Presentation Baltic Countries Peat Producers Forum Vilnius september 5th 2013 Magnus Brandel, Swedish Peat

2 From renewable to sustainable? Is peat a renewable resource or not? What does classification means for energy peat business? How has the discussion developed last years? How does the future look?

3 EU-commissions statement 2000 when discussing standards for biofuel Peat is not a biofuel. Peat lands are protected under the Habitat directive and the commission policy is to not promote the extraction of peat in Europe. Nevertheless, countries where peat extraction is sustainable, may desire to produce national standards. But as the natural conditions of peat are not the same in all countries of the EU, the Commission considers the preparation of European standards as a potential conflict with it s policy on nature conservation.

4 Finnish consideration based on the Crill-report 2001 Peat could be classified as a biomass fuel to distinguish peat from biofuels such as wood and from fossil fuels such as coal. Unlike fossil fuels but similar to biofuels, biomass fuels are renewable. Due to the long time span required for building up a harvestable peat deposit, in comparison to wood biomass, peat can be regarded as a slowly renewable fuel only.

5 IEAs judgement 2002 Renewable energy is energy that is derived from natural processes that are repleinished constantly. In it s various form, it derives directly or indirectly from the sun, or heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is energy generated from solar, vind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower and ocean resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources. IEA currently don t consider peat as a renewable resources.

6 Swedish Peat Commission (SOU 2002:100) Peat is a natural resource which is lasting and indigenous and could be characterized as a slowly renewable biomass fuel (like Crill)

7 What are the main aspect when determing if peat is renewable or not? Time dimension Finland/Crill, IEA and EU Conflict with biodiversity - EU If peat is an abundant resource in a specific country Sweden

8 European council decision february 2011 The strategy Energy 2050 should contribute to promoting a more energy and resource efficient, sustainable, low carbon, secure, interconnected and competitive Europe, to the benefit of all consumers The strategy should put in the longer 2050 energy and low carbon policy perspective Foot note: low carbon are not excluding energy technologies that while using carbon-based fuel have low carbon emissions.

9 Is peat a renewable fuel or not? It is renewing but the time horizon is longer than wood fuels. It is not classified as biofuel in line with RES-directive and EU ETS. EU and IPCC don t classify peat as fossil It could therefore be characterized as slowly renewable biomass fuel but not a biofuel.

10 What does classification mean for peat business? It has created severe complications for peat peat should either be a biofuel or a fossil fuel classification between fossil/bio as peat will create problem. Peat is not an energy source recognized in EUs energy policy. It could therefore be seen as a local or national fuel.

11 How has the discussion developed last years? Focus shifted from renewable to low coal means that the dichotomy between bio and fossil in practice could disappeare in the future.

12 How does the future look? Climate will probably be the overall goal and sustainibility criteria for bioenergy means that the boundary between peat and bioenergy will not be so stringent as today. The overall question is wether energy sources will be classified as sustainable or not

13 The Swedish example Swedish peatland is accumulating around 20 mill m3 peat every year. We are producing around 4 mill m3 peat/ year. We are only producing peat from already ditched peatlands and therefore not using peatlands accumulating coal. We are only using around 1 o/oo of peat land for peat production.

14 Aspects concerning sustainable production and use of peat There must be a clear balance between accumulating peat in peatlands and utilizing peat The production of peat must fully take into concideration conflict with biodiversity Certification is an important question - RPP Peat should be used with high efficiency together with woodfuel Peat production and use should be sustainable from an eoncomic point of view

15 Torv är ett hållbart bränsle Effektivitet sameldning minskar tillförseln av primärbränsle med upp till % enligt EU. Försörjningstrygghet - minskar användningen av fossila bränslen Klimatpåverkan - finns en betydande potential för att minska torvbrukets klimatpåverkan Hinder mot denna utveckling - risk att torv kommer att förlora konkurrenskraft gentemot kol Thank You!