Bioenergy: a carbon accounting time bomb

Two principle gaps exist in the current accounting scheme for GHG emissions from bioenergy and biofuels, one temporal and one spatial in nature:

• Carbon debt. Harvesting forest biomass and associated management changes and conversion of land, releases immediate and significant GHG emissions – creating a carbon debt – that can take decades or even centuries to repay through recapture in soils and vegetation. The time element is ignored under EU law, which means that carbon reductions on paper in 2020 do not correspond to what is happening in reality.
• Carbon laundering. For the purpose of reporting under the UNFCCC, emissions from burning biomass are allocated to the “land use, land use change and forestry” (LULUCF) sector, not the energy sector. Those emissions, however, are not always accounted for in countries’ reduction obligations since countries can opt not to include emissions from “forest management.”

While both studies presented in this briefing concentrate on carbon, it must be noted that other environmental impacts, such as loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, are also significant and must be considered in policy decisions on bioenergy and biofuels.