What Is Biomass, And What Is Net Zero?

Walking away from fossil fuels means building an electricity-based system based on renewables.

FREMONT, CA: Tackling climate change and spurring a global transition to net zero emissions will require collaboration between science and industry. New technologies and decarbonization methods must be rooted in scientific research and testing.

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Biomass as a sustainable resource: Walking away from fossil fuels means building an electricity-based system based on renewables. Supporting wind and solar by offering electricity at times of low sunlight or wind levels will require flexible generation sources, such as biomass, and other technologies like increased energy storage.

Biomass is also expected to play a major role in supplying biofuels and hydrogen production for sectors of the global economy that will remain to use fuel rather than electricity, such as aviation, shipping, and industrial processes. In addition, good forest management practices ensure that forests stay sustainable sources of woody biomass and effective carbon sinks.

A report by experts investigates the scientific literature around the climate effects (mainly CO2 abatement) of heading biomass for bioenergy from forests managed per sustainable forest management principles and practices.

The report underlines the dual impact managed forests contribute to climate change mitigation by providing material for forest products, including biomass that replaces greenhouse gas (GHG)-intensive fossil fuels, and by storing carbon in forests and long-lived forest products.

The role of biomass and bioenergy in decarbonizing economies goes beyond just replacing fossil fuels. For example, adding carbon capture and storage (CCS) to bioenergy to create bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) allows renewable power generation while permanently removing carbon from the atmosphere and carbon cycle.

The negative emissions made likely by BECCS are now a fundamental part of many scenarios to limit o 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels.

BECCS and the path to net zero

A report on limiting global warming to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels emphasizes that even across a wide range of scripts for energy systems, all share a substantial reliance on bioenergy – coupled with effective land use that prevents it from contributing to deforestation.

The report's second chapter deals with ways to reduce emissions by the mid-century. Bioenergy utilization is substantial in 1.5°C pathways with or without CCS due to its multiple roles in decarbonizing electricity generation and other industries that depend on fossil fuels.

However, the negative emissions made possible by BECCS make biomass instrumental in multiple net zero scenarios. The report highlights that BECCS, alongside the associated afforestation and reforestation (AR) that comes with sustainable forest management, are key pathways limiting climate change to 1.5oC.

Two key factors make BECCS and other emissions removals so essential: Their ability to neutralize residual emissions from sources that are not decreasing their emissions fast enough and those that are hard or even impossible to completely decarbonize. For example, aviation and agriculture are two sectors vital to the global economy with hard-to-abate emissions. Negative emissions technologies can eliminate an equivalent amount of CO2 these industries produce, helping balance emissions and progressing economies to about zero.

The second ground BECCS and other negative emissions technologies will be important to remove historical CO2 emissions. What makes CO2 such a significant GHG to reduce and eliminate is that it lasts much longer in the atmosphere than any other. Therefore, to help reach the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting temperature rises to below 1.5oC, removing historical emissions from the atmosphere will be essential.

With greater attention paid to forest management and land use, a growing body of evidence points to bioenergy as a positive solution that can decarbonize power and economies while supporting healthy forests that sequester CO2.

How bioenergy ensures sustainable forests: Biomass in electricity generation and other industries must come from sustainable sources to offer a renewable, climate-beneficial [or low carbon] power source.

Operators must maintain a sufficient inventory of the trees in the area (including data on the growth of the trees and the extraction of wood) to ascertain that wood is removed from the area at a speed that does not surpass its long-term capacity to produce wood. This is intended to ensure that areas where biomass is sourced retain their productivity and ability to retain sequestering carbon.

Guaranteeing that forestland remains productive and protected from land-use changes, like an urban creep, where vegetated land is transitioned into urban, concreted spaces, depends on a healthy market for wood products. Industries like construction and furniture offer higher prices for higher-quality wood. While low-quality waste wood, as well as remainders from forests and wood-industry by-products, can be bought and utilized to produce biomass pellets.