Creutzig, Felix and Ravindranath, NH and Berndes, Goran and Bolwig, Simon and Bright, Ryan and Cherubini, Francesco and Chum, Helena and Corbera, Esteve and Delucchi, Mark and Faaij, Andre and Fargione, Joseph and Haberl, Helmut and Heath, Garvin and Lucon, Oswaldo and Plevin, Richard and Popp, Alexander and Robledo-Abad, Carmenza and Rose, Steven and Smith, Pete and Stromman, Anders and Suh, Sangwon and Masera, Omar (2015) Bioenergy and climate change mitigation: an assessment. In: GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY BIOENERGY, 7 (5). pp. 916-944.
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Bioenergy deployment offers significant potential for climate change mitigation, but also carries considerable risks. In this review, we bring together perspectives of various communities involved in the research and regulation of bioenergy deployment in the context of climate change mitigation: Land-use and energy experts, land-use and integrated assessment modelers, human geographers, ecosystem researchers, climate scientists and two different strands of life-cycle assessment experts. We summarize technological options, outline the state-of-the-art knowledge on various climate effects, provide an update on estimates of technical resource potential and comprehensively identify sustainability effects. Cellulosic feedstocks, increased end-use efficiency, improved land carbon-stock management and residue use, and, when fully developed, BECCS appear as the most promising options, depending on development costs, implementation, learning, and risk management. Combined heat and power, efficient biomass cookstoves and small-scale power generation for rural areas can help to promote energy access and sustainable development, along with reduced emissions. We estimate the sustainable technical potential as up to 100EJ: high agreement; 100-300EJ: medium agreement; above 300EJ: low agreement. Stabilization scenarios indicate that bioenergy may supply from 10 to 245EJyr(-1) to global primary energy supply by 2050. Models indicate that, if technological and governance preconditions are met, large-scale deployment (>200EJ), together with BECCS, could help to keep global warming below 2 degrees degrees of preindustrial levels; but such high deployment of land-intensive bioenergy feedstocks could also lead to detrimental climate effects, negatively impact ecosystems, biodiversity and livelihoods. The integration of bioenergy systems into agriculture and forest landscapes can improve land and water use efficiency and help address concerns about environmental impacts. We conclude that the high variability in pathways, uncertainties in technological development and ambiguity in political decision render forecasts on deployment levels and climate effects very difficult. However, uncertainty about projections should not preclude pursuing beneficial bioenergy options.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Publication: | GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY BIOENERGY |
| Publisher: | WILEY-BLACKWELL |
| Additional Information: | Copy right for this article belongs to the WILEY-BLACKWELL, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA |
| Keywords: | climate change mitigation; land use; life-cycle analysis; sustainability; technical potential; technologies |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Sustainable Technologies (formerly ASTRA) |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Sep 2015 04:25 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Oct 2018 15:38 |
| URI: | http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/52312 |
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