The EU Renewable Energy Directive (EU-RED) abandons the Kyoto Protocol restriction of responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions to those occurring within national borders, it makes EU bioenergy users responsible for supply-chain emissions throughout the world. However, problems arise from the EU-RED's continuation of the Kyoto Protocol land-typesplus-activities approach and disregard for the time lag between emissions from forest-sourced biomass and compensating removals of CO2 from the atmosphere. The land-types-plus-activities approach leads to omissions, such as emissions from forests that remain forests. While not a major issue for biofuels, this seriously underestimates the CO2 profile of forest-sourced biomass for heat and power. The EU-RED's failure to address the time lag means that bioenergy approved by EU-RED can be used to meet targets even though significant increases in emissions occur during the time horizon of the targets. These problems can be resolved through a well-designed eligibility formula. A formula covering timing of increases and losses in all carbon pools would ensure that bioenergy reduces greenhouse gas emissions without needing to prohibit actions on specific land types.
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/003269Altmetric score:
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Publisher
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Publication year
2010
Authors
Pena, N.; Bird, N.; Frieden, D.; Zanchi, G.
Topic
Kristen Evans
CIFOR Associate
Julia E. Fa
CIFOR Senior Associate
Willy Daeli
Consultant
Lauren Coad
Consultant
Rebecca McLain
CIFOR Senior Associate
David Fabre
Consultant
Rodd Myers
CIFOR Associate
Boen Purnama, MSc
CIFOR Senior Associate
Shalini Dhyani
Scientist
Bishwa Nath Oli
CIFOR Associate