Bioenergy

Bioenergy refers to electricity, gas or transport fuels that are produced from organic matter, known as biomass, which includes plants and crops, wood, agricultural and food waste, and sewage (black water). While producing bioenergy can generate less climate-changing carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels such as oil and gas, it can actually result in more emissions if land is dedicated specifically for growing biomass feedstocks such as palm oil or wood pellets, and even more if carbon-storing forests have been cleared in the process. 

Biofuels are mainly used in transportation - bioethanol for gas/petrol engines, and biodiesel for diesel engines. There are three main types of biofuel:  

- First generation biofuels, which are produced from food or animal feed crops such as sugar cane, sugar beet, corn, wheat, soya and palm, soybean and rapeseed;  

- Second generation biofuels, which are produced from grasses or crops that cannot be used as food, and agricultural residues, forest and sawmill residues, wood wastes and other waste materials, such as used cooking oil and municipal solid waste, and; 

- Third generation biofuels, also known as ‘advanced biofuels, which are produced from microalgae. 

We focus our work on limiting the threat of increased carbon emissions, deforestation and biodiversity loss from bioenergy production, and on convincing policy makers to speed up the switch from using climate-changing, polluting fuels for power generation and transportation to low and zero carbon alternatives.