Bioenergy and ecological transition
Bioenergy should be recognised as having the capacity to reduce energy dependence by replacing fossil fuels with those derived from residual biomass, which is useful in terms of circularity. Short supply chains for the supply and exploitation (energy and/or industrial) of biomass stimulate the local economy, especially for mountain and rural areas, thanks to the national industry that expresses excellence in the manufacture of machinery and the provision of services
Awareness of the seriousness of the problems caused by ongoing climate change and the need to take decisive action to limit climate-changing gas emissions caused by human activities as much as possible, starting with those linked to energy production and use, has led the European Union to set decidedly "challenging" objectives in terms of increasing the contribution of renewable energy sources (RES) and reducing CO2 emissions, aiming for a "climate neutral" Europe by 2050.
Just recently, environment ministers from 50 countries and dozens of experts from the UN Environment Agency UNFCCC took part in Milan in Pre-Cop26 (30 September - 2 October), the preparatory meeting for the annual UN climate conference that this year will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from 31 October to 12 November. The ministers attending the event, with Roberto Cingolani (Ecological Transition) representing Italy, met at various thematic tables to discuss adaptation to climate change, climate finance and transparency. It is pleasing to note a growing ability of young activists to interact with policy makers in more and more structured forms, such as the event "Youth for climate: driving ambition", which integrated well with the Pre-Cop agenda. The discussion on these issues, which cover countless topics, will be used to guide the decisions to be taken soon in Glasgow, the most important climate conference since Paris (Cop21) in 2015. In the Scottish city, the 197 signatory states to the Paris Agreement will have to present their new decarbonisation commitments (National Determined Contributions, NDCs), which update those made in Paris. Six years on, it is now clear that a substantial reshaping of individual states' decarbonisation commitments is of paramount importance, as the previous targets have proven insufficient to meet even the minimum target of the climate agreement, namely to keep global warming within 2 degrees of pre-industrial levels. One of the central problems is that for many fast-growing (e.g. China and India) or low-income (e.g. African or Latin American) countries, the transition from fossil fuels to renewables is too costly to reconcile with short-term economic development strategies.
However, at least for the "old Continent", 2021 was already expected to be the year of "transition from strategy to action" to achieve the ambitious goal of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, which is one of the key pillars of the EU's future energy and environmental policy outlined in the "Green Deal" policy paper. This would largely mean decarbonising the energy system, a development that is also necessary for Europe's sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and for medium- and long-term prosperity.
Renewable energy from more sustainable sources will be essential to support this development and to combat not only climate change but also the loss of biodiversity and, in this perspective, the most reliable forecasting models show the need to increase the current share of bioenergy, predicting its increasing usage to double by 2050.
The programmability and versatility of bioenergy make it an essential component of both the current and prospective energy mix, and make it instrumental in the transition to an increasingly renewable and consumer-driven generation model. The environmental benefits of bioenergy are also considerable and need to be analysed with specific reference to the raw materials and conversion technologies used.
Bioenergy, understood as the set of technologies that can be used to produce energy or energy carriers (fuels and combustibles) from biomass, is today the renewable energy source that makes the largest contribution to Italy's final energy consumption. According to GSE statistical surveys, in 2019 bioenergy covered practically half (49%) of gross final consumption of renewable energy and 8.9% of total consumption. This is because biomass energy is the only one among all RES able to meet the demands for electricity, heat and transport fuels, considering that half of total energy consumption concerns heating and cooling, and almost a third concerns transport. In the latter case, biofuels are still the only form of renewable energy capable of making a significant contribution (3.2% of actual consumption in the sector in 2019).
The global and European targets at 2030 and 2050, starting with those indicated in the Green Deal and taken up more recently by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) are very ambitious and decidedly more "challenging" than those set out in Directive 2001/2018 EU of 11 December 2018 (the so-called RED II Directive, currently being transposed in Italy), which sets targets for GHG reduction and the contribution of RES to energy consumption for 2030.
More specifically, in the NRRP, where great emphasis is placed on renewables as a whole - with the exception of biomethane, which is given its rightful role in the energy transition and the greening of the gas grid - the development of other forms of bioenergy is not taken into account.
This lack of attention is probably due to a lack of awareness of the importance of the sector outside the circle of 'insiders'. However, when we talk about energy transition and sustainable mobility, as well as about issues such as the development of the circular economy and sustainable agriculture and the protection of land and water resources, it is clear that bioenergy - the only renewable source that requires a constant supply of 'fuel' in the form of biomass - will take on a role of primary importance for the economic sustainability of production chains and the proper management of their residues and by-products, with a view to the circular economy, as well as the organic material resulting from land maintenance and environmental restoration work, which require appropriate infrastructure and mechanisation.
As a direct consequence of what has been established in the European Green Deal and in the NRRP, also the objectives indicated in the Italian National Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate (NIPEC), prepared in accordance with the provisions of EU Regulation 1999/2018 of 11 December 2018 and sent to Brussels in early 2020, will have to be revised not only as regards the contribution of RES and the reduction of CO2 emissions, but also in terms of circularity, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity.
Indeed, the latest version of the Italian NECP set the target of covering 30% of gross final energy consumption with renewable sources by 2030, with a forecast of 111 Mtoe, of which about 33 Mtoe from renewable sources. This target, in line with the European RED II Directive, is, however, decidedly lower than what is required in light of the need to speed up the ecological transition process as much as possible, as advocated by the Green Deal and, at national level, by the NRRP.
For these reasons ITABIA has willingly provided its contribution to the drafting of a Position Paper that the FREE (Renewable Sources and Energy Efficiency) Coordination will launch at Key Energy in Rimini a few days before Cop26 (See BOX).
Moreover, as has been customary for the past fifteen years, the EIMA International Energy Exhibition will be an opportunity to address the issues of sustainable development in agriculture and forestry associated with the exploitation of biomass and the use of innovative machinery in terms of efficiency and safety for operators and the environment.
