Climate Change Effects of Biomass and Bioenergy Systems

Campinas, Brazil 2011

Quantifying and managing land use effects of bioenergy

Campinas, Brazil, September 19th – 21th, 2011

Jointly organised by

Task 38 – Greenhouse Gas Balances of Biomass and Bioenergy Systems
Task 40: Sustainable International Bioenergy Trade – Securing Supply and Demand
Task 43: Biomass Feedstocks for Energy Markets

Hosted and sponsored by:


Scope and objectives of the workshop

In the past decades, the production of biomass for energy in agriculture and forestry has increased in many parts of the world. For years to come, further increase in land use for bioenergy will be needed to meet the renewable energy ambitions of many countries, and to reduce fossil fuel use and associated GHG emissions. As many industrialized countries have a limited biomass production potential compared to their prospective demand, it is expected that substantial international bioenergy trade will develop in the coming decades where regions such as Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa will produce feedstocks for both domestic consumption and for export.

Increasing the production and energetic use of biomass has many direct and indirect effects, including land-use related GHG emissions, impacts on biodiversity, and other environmental and social effects. However, while much of the recent years’ debate has concerned negative effects, it is important to note that bioenergy expansion can also lead to positive environmental and socio-economic outcomes.

This workshop aimed to bring together current state-of-the-art research concerned with assessing land use effects of bioenergy, mitigating negative impacts, and promoting beneficial outcomes.

The workshop addressed the following topics:

  • Quantifying and Responding to Land Use and Land Use Change effects of bioenergy
  • Methods for estimating land use and land use change – modeling and other approaches
  • Effects of bioenergy systems on GHG emissions, carbon flows
  • Other effects of bioenergy (soil, water, biodiversity, social)
  • Integrating land use change effects in broader assessment frameworks
  • Policy measures, standards and certification
  • Integrated land use strategies

 

Workshop programme

Please download the final workshop program (includes all abstracts): Final workshop program (PDF-file 680 kB)

All presentations are now available for download. The presentations have been bundled per session as zip files.

 

Plenary session 1:

Bioenergy Supply, Land Use, and Environmental Implications – Robert Beach,
Research Triangle Institute International (RTI International)

Presentation

Bioenergy, sustainability and tradeoffs: can we avoid deforestation while promoting bioenergy? – D. Andrew Wardell, Krystof Obidzinski, and Neil Bird,
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Presentation

Land Use Change and European Biofuel Policies – David Laborde Debucquet,
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Presentation

Global Agriculture to 2020: drivers and issues – Holger Matthey, Trade and Markets Division
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)

Presentation

Land use Models and iLUC under a Brazilian Perspective – Andre Nassar
Instituto de Estudos do Comércio e Negociações Internacionais (ICONE)

Presentation

Biofuels, Land Use Change and Climate Change Mitigation – Govinda R. Timilsina
The World Bank

Presentation

Parallel session 2a:

Quantifying land use effects of bioenergy – Conceptual approaches: Methodology, modeling approaches, estimation techniques:

Accounting Land as Natural Resource for Energetic and Exergetic LCA: A New Method – Rodrigo Augusto Freitas de Alvarenga, Jo Dewulf and Herman Van Langenhove
Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology (ENVOC), Ghent University – Belgium

Presentation

Oil Price Shocks and the U.S. Bioenergy Market: Assessing Demand and Land Use Impacts – Robert Beach, Research Triangle Institute International (RTI International) and
Sara Ohrel, US Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)

Presentation

What is the contribution to Global Warming of time-distributed biogenic CO2 fluxes? – Francesco Cherubini and Anders H. Strømman
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Presentation

Biochar: Can it reduce pressure on the land? – Annette Cowie
National Centre for Rural Greenhouse Gas Research

Presentation

Top Ten Steps to Improve Quantification of Land-Use Change Effects of Bioenergy Systems – Keith Kline, Gbadebo Oladosu, Virginia Dale, Allen McBride and Nagendra Singh, Center for BioEnergy Sustainability
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Presentation

Methodologies to measure direct and indirect land use effects of sugarcane bioethanol – Marcelo Moreira
Instituto de Estudos do Comércio e Negociações Internacionais (ICONE)

Presentation

Integrating remote sensing and geospatial analysis to quantify impacts of biofuel expansion – Michael Netzer, Jessica Chalmers, Dr. Nancy Harris and Dr. Cheney Shreve
Winrock International

Presentation

 

Parallel session 2b:

Quantifying land use effects of bioenergy – Practical application: Case study results, demonstration of methods

The climate benefit of Swedish ethanol – present and prospective performance – Pål Börjesson, Serina Ahlgren & Göran Berndes, Environmental and Energy Systems Studies
Lund University

Presentation

Sugarcane Ethanol Production in Malawi: A ‚Real World„ Case Study on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Due to Direct and Indirect Effects – Elisa Dunkelberg
IÖW –Institute for Ecological Economy Research

Presentation

Modeling environmental consequences of dLUC in a fully renewable energy system in Denmark:
Effect of crop types, soil, climate, residues management, initial carbon level and turnover time – Lorie Hamelin, Uffe Jørgensen, Bjørn M. Petersen, Jørgen E. Olesen and Henrik Wenzel
Syddansk Universitet
Presentation

cLCA of European Biodiesel – Estimation of Key Drivers for iLUC and Identification of Mitigation Options – Nicole Kalas, Mark Akhurst, Dr Jeremy Woods and Alexandre Strapasson
Imperial College London

Presentation

Quantifying and Managing Land Use Effects of Bioenergy – Gerd Sparovek and Alberto Giaroli Barretto (University of São Paulo), Goran Berndes and Oliveira Pereira (Chalmers University of Technology) and Israel Leoname Frölich Klug
Presentation

Empirical Analysis of the Sources of Corn Used for Ethanol Production in the United States: 2001-2009 – Debo Oladosu and Keith Kline.  Presentation by Maggie Stevens. Center for Bioenergy Sustainability, Renewable Energy Systems Group, Environmental Sciences Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Presentation

Radiative Forcing Impacts of Norwegian Forest Bioenergy: Forest Dynamics and the Albedo Effect – Ryan Bright and Anders Strømman, Industrial Ecology Program, Energy and Process Engineering
Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet (NTNU)

Presentation

 

Parallel session 3a:

Quantifying land use effects of bioenergy – continued

GHG LCA of Soybean-based Biodiesel: The Implications of Alternative LUC Scenarios – Érica Castanheira and Fausto Freire, ADAI-LAETA, Center for Industrial Ecology
University of Coimbra

Presentation

Biodiversity Considerations in Certified Biomass Production – Oskar Egland and Göran Berndes
Chalmers University of Technology

Presentation

Time-dependent climate benefits of using forest residues to substitute fossil fuels – Leif Gustavsson and Roger Sathre
Linnéuniversitet
Presentation

The Importance of Pre-conversion Technologies for Coupling
Sustainable Bioenergy Land Use to Biomass Trade – J. Richard Hess, David Muth Jr.
Idaho National Laboratory

Presentation

Nutrient and Carbon Trajectories, Land Use Change and the Sustainability of Short Rotation Woody Crop Production for Bioenergy Production in Canada  – Barbara Kishchuk, Derek Sidders, Carmela Arevalo and Jagtar Bhatti,
Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre – Forest Product Innovations and Natural Resources Canada
Presentation

Framework for Evaluating the Environmental Consequences of Bioenergy Driven Land Use Changes at Local and Regional Scales – Saori Miyake, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management (GPEM)
The University of Queensland
Presentation

A Prospective Analysis of US-Brazil Biofuel Policies – Héctor M. Núñez and Hayri Önal, Madhu Khanna, Xiaoguang Chen, Haixiao Huang, Champaign Energy Biosciences Institute
University of Illinois

Presentation

Biofuels Policymaking for Refractory Uncertainty – Michael O’Hare, Goldman School of Public Policy
University of California, Berkeley
Presentation

GWP Factors and Warming Payback Times as Climate Indicators of Forest Biomass Use Cycles – Kim Pingoud, Tommi Ekholm and Ilkka Savolainen
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Presentation

Approaches to Quantify the Biodiversity Effects of Biofuel Production – Klaus Peter Zulka, Karin Enzinger, Dietmar Moser and Johannes Frühauf
Environment Agency Austria, Naturschutzbund Niederösterreich, BirdLife Austria

Presentation

 

Parallel session 3b:

Managing land use effects of bioenergy

Mitigation Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Due to the Conversion of Sugarcane Areas from Burned to Green Harvest, Considering Reduced Tillage and the Crop-Rotation – Eduardo Barretto de Figueiredo, Ricardo Bodonal, Prof. Dr. Newton La Scala Jr.
Universidade Estadual Paulista, Jaboticabal Campus (UNESP)

Presentation

Indicators to Support Environmental Sustainability of Bioenergy – Virginia H. Dale, Center for BioEnergy Sustainability
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Presentation

Sustainable Agrofuels, Land Use Change and Certification Schemes – Kenneth Hermele, Human Ecology
Lund University

Presentation

Moving Forward: Policies to Improve Land Use & Address Social Concerns (when effects “always depend”) – Keith Kline Center for BioEnergy Sustainability
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Presentation

Market-Mediated Land Use Change and Biofuel Policy: Towards An Evaluation of Mitigation Options  – Jody Endres and Bruno Perosa
University of Illinois Energy Biosciences Institute
Presentation

Certification Module for Low Indirect Impact Biofuels – Jasper van de Staaij
Ecofys
Presentation

Improved Modeling and Mitigation of iLUC – Birka Wicke, A. Faaij, P. Verweij, D. van Vuuren, and H. van Meijl, Copernicus Institute, Faculty of Science
Universitet Utrecht

Presentation

Market-Mediated Land Use Change and Biofuel Policy: Towards An Evaluation of Mitigation Options  – Julie Witcover, Sonia Yeh, Siwa Msangi
Institute for Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis and International Food Policy Research Institute
Presentation

 

Plenary session 4:

Synthesis of findings – Neil Bird, André Faaij, Göran Berndes
Presentation

Agroecological Zoning for Biofuels: The Brazilian Experience – Fábio Marin
Embrapa Agriculture Informatics
Presentation

Data, Analysis, and Field Studies to Evaluate and Minimize Land-use Change Impacts of Large-scale Bioenergy Production – Alison Goss Eng, Biomass Program
U.S. Department of Energy

Presentation

Synthesis of Findings – Neil Bird, André Faaij, Göran Berndes
Presentation

The Role of Sustainability Certification in Mitigating Negative Indirect Impacts of Biofuel Production – Victoria Junquera, Energy Centre
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Presentation

Challenges to Certify Sustainability for Bioenergy Production – Keith Kline, Center for BioEnergy Sustainability
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Presentation

Is Certification the Silver Bullet for Sustainability? – Eduardo Leão de Sousa, Luiz Fernando do Amaral
The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA)

Presentation

Establishing Ecologically Sustainable Forest Biomass Supply Chains: A case Study in the Boreal Forest of Canada  – Evelyne Thiffault, David Paré, Sylvain Volpé, Denis Cormier and Perttu Anttila
Canadian Forest Service, FPInnovations, Metla
Presentation

 

Posters:

Combining economic modelling and Life Cycle Assessment: Is It Possible from a Scientific Method Point of View? – Serina Ahlgren and Pål Börjesson
Poster

Realistic Expectations on Biomass Potential in Conventional Forestry and Agriculture – Swedish Experiences – Gustaf Egnell and Pål Börjesson
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Lund University
Poster

Estimating Indirect Land Use Changes of Biofuels Given Increased Organic Farming in Europe – E. Jonson, P. Havlík, F. Hedenus and S. Wirsenius
Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology and International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Poster

Instruments to Assess Direct and Indirect Impacts of Biomass Producer Decision Making: Concepts and Preliminary Application – J. (Hans) WA Langeveld, Jianbang Gan and CT (Tat) Smith, Biomass Research
University of Toronto
Poster

Land-use and environmental pressures from bioenergy crop expansion –
A literature review  – Saori Miyake, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management (GPEM),
University of Queensland
Poster

Potential Effects of the Brazilian Biodiesel and Palm Oil Program on Socioeconomic Insertion of Family Farming – Andrea Restrepo Ramirez
University of Brasilia
Poster

GHG Emissions and Land-use Changes From Substitution of Brazilian Soybean with Locally Produced Protein Feed in Scandinavian Pig and Dairy Production – Yaw Sasu-Boakye, Christel Cederberg and Stefan Wirsenius
Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology and Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology

Poster


 

Photos

 

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