By: Rubina Obaid
“In Europe, biomass has substantially displaced millions of tonnes of coal over the past decade. This has paved the way to overcome greenhouse gas emission while playing its role in achieving climate neutrality goals in line with UN targets 2030. Therefore, the U.S. industrial pellet has applauded the European Commission’s proposal to accelerate the switch towards a climate-neutral economy.”
EU climate and energy framework set ambitious targets by phasing out the technologies and infrastructure that causes fossil-based carbon emission. In the EU bioenergy is the largest renewable energy source used for the green economy. Most member states have significantly increased forest biomass for an alternate source of energy as climate neutrality transition is an urgent challenge as well as an opportunity to strive for a better future. All parts of society and economic sectors are playing a pivotal role, from the power sector to transport, industry, agriculture, and forestry. EU has led the way by investing in realistic technological solutions and ensuring social fairness for the transition.
In Europe, biomass has substantially displaced millions of tonnes of coal over the past decade. This has paved the way to overcome greenhouse gas emission while playing its role in achieving climate neutrality goals in line with UN targets 2030. Therefore, the U.S. industrial pellet has applauded the European Commission’s proposal to accelerate the switch towards a climate-neutral economy. The European Commission recently presented its plan to reduce EU’s emission by at least 55% by the year 2030, comparative to the 1990’s level. The ambition will put the EU on the balanced pathway to reaching the climate targets by the next two decades.
Commission further set out the legislative proposals to be presented by June 2021 to implement the new target that include revising and expanding the EU Emissions Trading System. Along with adapting the Effort Sharing Regulation and the framework for the emission using the land. The commission has precisely followed up the commitment to devise a European Climate Pact in the first hundred days of the term. They also reinforced energy efficiency and the policies for renewable energy and road vehicle standards.
According to U.S Industrial Pellet Association (USIPA), sustainable biomass is poised to make significant contributions to several of these, such as including reduced GHG emissions while increasing the share of renewable energy to 30-40%. Thus, the coal and gas consumption will be decreased by 70 and 25% respectively, as compared to the 2015 levels. USIPA further added that “As its largest single source of renewable energy, sustainable biomass is a cornerstone of the EU’s low carbon energy transition. We welcome the commissions’ recognition that, in order to meet its ambitious targets for 2030 and 2050, the EU will need more sustainable biomass to balance the grid and support a massive expansion of intermittent renewables like wind and solar.
Alongside this, the commission also adopted the policy to help Europe’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. This way the resource-efficient economy will be stimulated while promoting innovation in clean technology and opening new opportunities for green jobs. For this purpose, member states can draw on the 750 billion next-generation EU recovery fund and for the next long-term budget to further penetrate into the green energy investment. For achieving 55% greenhouse gas emission reduction requires a collaborative action that is multidimensional to foster the transition. This reflects the energy system’s central role in the transition. The commission recognized that meeting its ambitious target is imperative and the EU will need more sustainable biomass to balance the grid and support massive expansion.
Commission further added that “Sustainability is paramount to ensuring biomass delivers tangible benefits for the climate. U.S producers are leading in this area, thanks to our ability to provide substantial quantities of renewable fuel to EU member states while supporting healthy forests and protecting biodiversity. The fact that forest inventory and carbon stocks are higher in our source forests today than when the industry began a decade ago underscores our ability to operate sustainably. It further shows that current practices and regulations with respect to using only low-value feedstock results in more forests not less.” As set out, the commission will now begin the preparation of a detailed legislative proposal for successfully fulfilling European’s green deal.
Reference links:
https://www.bioenergy-news.com/news/usipa-welcomes-proposal-to-accelerate-eus-carbon-neutral-goals/
