EUROCLIMA Project Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (EC JRC) University of Campinas (UNICAMP) Bioethanol Science and Technology Centre (CTBE) Workshop Agro-environmental impact of biofuels and bioenergy Place: Campinas (Brazil) Date: 30 November- 1 December 2011 2 day meeting followed by technical visit on 2 December
Background This Expert Consultation is organised by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (wwwjrcceceuint) in cooperation with UNICAMP (Campinas, Brazil, see http://wwwunicampbr/unicamp/) and the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Centre (CTBE, see http://wwwbioetanolorgbr/english/interna/indexphp?chave=ctbe) This Meeting is an EUROCLIMA Project activity (see http://eceuropaeu/europeaid/where/latinamerica/regional-cooperation/euroclima/in-detail_enhtm and http://wwweuroclimaorg/) within the EUROCLIMA Bioenergy Module which includes the organisation in Latin America of 3 Expert Consultations on the following topics: GHG emissions from biofuels/bioenergy, agro-environmental assessment of biofuels/bioenergy and technology transfer in the field of biofuels/bioenergy Other EUROCLIMA activities deal with agriculture, soil, water management, desertification and draught monitoring The first EUROCLIMA Meeting on GHG emissions from biofuels and bioenergy was organised in cooperation with INTA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina and took place in Buenos Aires on 29 and 30 March 2011 (See http://rejrceceuropaeu/biof/html/ghg_argentinahtm) The last EUROCLIMA event is planned for April 2012 in Costa Rica, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET) of Costa Rica It will address the topic of technology transfer and cooperation in the field of biofuels and bioenergy This Expert Consultation is based on a concept of scientific networking used recently by the JRC on previous occasions in the fields of biofuels or bioenergy such as: - JRC/MPOC Expert Consultation on Direct and indirect impact of biofuels policies on tropical deforestation in Malaysia" organised in Kuala Lumpur in November 2008 by the JRC and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) - JRC/EEA/CENER Joint Seminar on "Sustainable bioenergy cropping systems for the Mediterranean, Madrid", Spain, February 2006, - JRC/CENER Expert Consultation on the "Energy potential from cereals straw in the European Union" 25, Pamplona, Spain, October 2006, - JRC/EEA/Rothamsted Research "Short Rotation Forestry, Short Rotation Coppice and energy grasses in the European Union: Agro-environmental aspects, present use and perspectives", Halpenden, United Kingdom, October 2007 The Proceedings of these meetings are available on http://rejrceceuropaeu/biof/ This EUROCLIMA Expert Consultation addresses the agro-environmental impact of biofuels and bioenergy and is organised at JRC level by the BioS Action (Sustainability of Bioenergy) of the EC JRC Institute for Energy (Renewable Energy Unit), (see http://rejrceceuropaeu/biof/), UNICAMP and CTBE, the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Centre The BioS Action (Sustainability of Bioenergy) of EC JRC aims to provide robust information on the most important quantifiable parameters needed to formulate biofuels policy, such as: - availability of feedstock from EU and world sources, - energy balance, - greenhouse-gas-balance, - environmental impact,
- cost of production and mobilisation, - potential in emerging countries, - effect on commodity/food/by-product prices, - competitive use and impact on existing industries, - overall cost-benefit analysis The BioS Action was partly based on the experience gained with the joint JRC-CONCAWE-EUCAR (JEC) Well-To-Wheels (WTW) study, which is recognised as one of the main references for Life Cycle Analysis of biofuels The JEC WTW study addresses energy balance, greenhouse-gas balance and costs of alternative fuels including biofuels All the quantified benefits of biofuels are related to the cost-to- Europe This is particularly important for the resource assessment; because knowing how much resource is available at what cost, and with which environmental impact, determines the mobilisation potential A part of biofuels or of feedstocks for biofuels to be used in the European Union is expected to come from imports, to a large extent from tropical countries Therefore the sustainability and resource considerations must be taken into account in the EU and also beyond EU borders The four main aspects addressed by the BioS Action are thus: - Greenhouse gas performance of biofuels, - Environmental impact assessment of biofuels/bioenergy policy options - Cost versus availability for EU-sourced feedstock for biofuels and bioenergy, for different regional scope settings, - Imported biofuels and feedstocks The BioS Action contributes to the activities of the JRC Biofuels Thematic Programme and provides technical support to the European Commission General Directorates, especially Energy, Environment, Development and Research It presently performs GIS activities of biomass resources mapping for Europe as well as an assessment of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) submitted in 2010 by the 27 EU Member States The JRC participates in International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy Task 43 on Biomass feedstocks for energy CTBE description The Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory (CTBE) is a national laboratory with focus on innovative and sustainable production of ethanol from sugarcane To accomplish this goal, CTBE invests internally and through strategic partnerships in basic research (science) and technological innovation CTBE is operated by CNPEM (Brazilian Center of Research in Energy and Materials) for the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT-CNPq) The facilities of CTBE are located in Campinas, São Paulo CTBE's main goal is on studying the ethanol production cycle, focused on industrial technologies for cellulosic ethanol Moreover, CTBE intends to help the implementation of no-till farming of sugarcane and create sustainability models for the sector The Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory has five research programs: Basic Science, Pilot Plant for Process Development (PPDP), Low Impact Mechanization for No-Till Farming of Sugarcane, Sugarcane Virtual Biorefinery and Sustainability Due to the fact that sustainability is a wide concept, three priority aspects were defined by CTBE taking into account both the national and the international agenda (eg, Cramer et al, 2006, EC, 2009, GBEP, 2008, RSB, 2008) The choice of three main issues was justified during the first Workshop on Sustainability of Bioethanol (Workshop on the Impact of New Technologies on the Sustainability of the Sugarcane/Bioethanol Production Cycle3), held in May 2009 in Campinas The three priority
aspects are: energy balance and balance on greenhouse gas emissions; socio-economic impacts; and impacts on the availability and on the quality of water resources It is worth mentioning that this choice does not mean that other aspects of biofuels sustainability were considered less important The research in such broad subject (sustainability) requires clear definition of the focus, as a rigorous scientific approach is required Other priorities should be defined along the coming years, and the procedure to be adopted is both the review of objectives and of sustainability aspects under analysis by the end of each year One of the regular activities of the CTBE s staff on Sustainability is to follow the research activities regarding other aspects (eg, biodiversity) both in Brazil and abroad Taking the above mentioned three aspects as priorities, CTBE's activities on Sustainability of Bioethanol from Sugarcane are organized in five research projects that are conducted simultaneously: (a) energy and GHG emission balances; (b) land use change (LUC); (c) soil carbon stock changes and gaseous emissions (nitrous oxide and methane); (d) socio-economic impacts; (e) water use and its impacts on water resources In all these five research projects, CTBE will work together with national and international research groups in order to catalyze the research process, to make more effective the use of resources and to disseminate information Motivation EU Legislative Framework The European Commission has approved on 23 April 2009 the Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (2009/28/EC) (http://eceuropaeu/energy/renewables/index_enhtm) The objective of this Directive (commonly called the RED Directive) is to establish a framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources, with a view to achieving the European Union (EU) target of a 20% share of renewable energies by 2020, indicated in the Renewable Energy Road Map EU Member States are required to achieve renewable energy production targets by 2020 in electricity, heating and cooling and transport For pre-2004 Member States, these targets are to increase the share of renewable energies in these countries by about 6% to 13% compared to 2005 and, for Member States which joined in 2004 or afterwards, by about 5% to 10% compared to 2005 Intermediate trajectories are also laid down for each country Moreover, Member States must ensure at least a 10% share of energy from renewable sources (ie biofuels, hydrogen and electricity) in transport by 2020 EU Member States were asked to draw up national action plans, describing the measures they intend to take to achieve their respective targets These plans were forwarded to the European Commission by 30 June 2010 and are being implemented According to the Renewable Energy Directive, biofuels and bioliquids must meet the following environmental sustainability criteria: a greenhouse gas emission saving of at least 35% with respect to the fossil fuel reference, calculated according to a method described in the Directive; absence of provenance from land with high biodiversity value (primary forest, nature protection area, highly biodiverse grassland) or with high carbon stock (wetlands, continuously forested areas, peatlands) and, in the case of European production, compliance with the environmental requirements applicable to direct aid under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) The emission savings requirements will rise in the future The European Commission also proposes a framework for verification of compliance with the environmental sustainability criteria, based on the use by economic operators of a mass balance system
and on submission of reliable information by these operators to the Member State requesting it On decision by the Commission, bilateral and multilateral agreements concluded between the Community and third countries may serve as proof of compliance with the environmental sustainability criteria EU Member States must ensure that information is made available to the public on the availability and environmental benefits of renewable sources for transport EU Member States must report to the Commission on the promotion and use of energy from renewable sources by 2011 and then every 2 years On the basis of these reports and of monitoring and analysis by the Commission, the Commission will draw up a report by 2012 and then every 2 years This Directive is part of the "energy and climate change" package launched by the Commission at the beginning of 2008 Meeting scientific Objective The objective of this Expert Consultation is to exchange expertise, collect/analyse/discuss data and information on the agro-environmental impact of biofuels and bioenergy This meeting will focus on the impact of biofuels and bioenergy production in Latin America and Europe but considerations about other regions of the world are also relevant The following topics are of special interest for this meeting and will be addressed in the technical presentations: - Impact of biofuels and bioenergy policies on water management (water quantity and quality, water footprint ) - Impact of biofuels and bioenergy policies on biodiversity - Soils carbon stock change (effect of no-till practices or crop rotations, carbon displacement at planting, duration of carbon pay-back periods ) - Land use change (direct or indirect) and possible impact of bioenergy development on deforestation Attention will be paid to the monitoring of direct land use change (cartographic and remote sensing datasets, data availability, methodological issues and results accuracy) to the assessment of which type of land is being converted to extend biofuel crops - Comparison between the agro-environmental impact of first and second generation biofuels, - Impact of the use of waste and crop residues - GHG emissions from biofuels for transport (bioethanol and biodiesel) produced in different agroecological regions of Latin America, with specific focus on the use of crops such as sugar cane, and soybean This part will address Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of biofuels, Nitrous oxide N 2 O emissions, impact of no-tillage practices in agroecological systems - GHG emissions from bioenergy pathways (for heat and electricity) based on different Latin-American feedstocks and production areas, for example considering eucalyptus cultivation and use - Methodologies of agro-environmental or sustainability assessment - Status of the implementation of environmental/sustainability certification initiatives (GBEP, RSB, ISCC, BSI, RTRS, CARBIO or others ) This Meeting will mainly address sugar cane based on the Brazilian experience but other crops such as soya, palm, jatropha This meeting will build from the experience from Brazil and Argentina but also from other Latin American countries Space will be left to open discussions coordinated by a chair person and a rapporteur) in order to define, in the field of agro-environmental assessment of biofuels and bioenergy, which are the points of consensus, disagreement, or the technical fields where more research is needed in order to tackle uncertainties
This meeting will be performed in close cooperation with IEA Bioenergy Tasks 43 (Biomass feedstocks for energy markets) and IEA Bioenergy Task 40 (Sustainable international bionergy trade, securing supply and demand) (See http://wwwieabioenergycom/ourworkaspx) What this meeting is: A scientific meeting to exchange and discuss data availability, accuracy and uncertainties and to improve understanding in order to provide the best technical/scientific support to Latin American and European decision-makers in the field of agro-environmental assessment of biofuels and bioenergy, through EUROCLIMA channel This meeting is not a policy formulation meeting Expected outcome The outcome of this Expert Consultation will be summarized in Proceedings prepared by the Meeting organisers (EC JRC, UNICAMP and CTBE), focussing on the areas previously listed and based on the input provided by the Meeting participants The Proceedings will be available on the web and a paper copy will be prepared as well Experts: This Workshop is intended to include about 30 participants in order to allow interactive discussions Experts will be invited from Latin America (through the EUROCLIMA National Focal Points) and the European Union Experts will originate mainly from agricultural/forestry/environmental institutes (including government agencies), renewable energy institutes, research centres and energy companies The main thematic specialities of the participants will be related to biofuels/bioenergy agroenvironmental impact Of special interest for this meeting is expertise related to: - Agronomic knowledge on sugar cane, soya and palm and farming practices, - Environmental impact assessment of crop production for bioenergy use, especially regarding soil, water and biodiversity, - Research and R&D on crop cultivation and use - Biofuels/bioenergy and land use change, - Test of bioenergy crops and energy grasses, - Quantification of GHG emissions from biofuels/bioenergy and Life Cycle Analysis of biofuels/bioenergy pathways
Organisers : Jean-François Dallemand Joint Research Centre, European Commission Institute for Energy, Renewable Energy Unit TP 450 21027 Ispra (Va) Italy Jean-Francoisdallemand@eceuropaeu Tel: 39 0332 789937 http://rejrceceuropaeu/biof/ http://wwwjrcceceuint Fabio Monforti-Ferrario Action Leader BioS - Sustainability of BioEnergy European Commission JRC - Institute for Energy Renewable Energy Unit Via E Fermi 2749, TP 450, I-21027 Ispra (VA), Italy Tel:+39-0332-783996 fabiomonforti-ferrario@eceuropaeu http://rejrceceuropaeu/biof/ Arnaldo Walter Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica - UNICAMP Campinas, Brazil Tel: 00 55 19 3521 3283 awalter@femunicampbr