Bioenergy, Climate and Development:
Emerging Issues and Challenges
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
15 September 2008
Francis X. Johnson, Research Fellow,
Energy and Climate, SEI

Historical background of SEI :
• Began with Beijer Institute in 1977; focus on energy & climate
• Groundbreaking studies on fuel wood in Africa
• Helped form GHGs advisory group in 1980s - later led to IPCC
• SEI created in 1989, named after 1972 UN Conference
Current structure of SEI:
• Centres-Stockholm (HQ), Tallinn, U.S., Oxford, York, Bangkok
• New Centre at University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• Climate and Energy is one of six research programmes
• About 120 research staff and 25 support staff
• International partners and associates in more than 40 countries
• Funded through Govt core support (20%) and projects (80%)
MISSION:
to support decision-making and induce change towards
sustainable development around the world by providing
integrative knowledge that bridges science and policy in the
field of environment and development

Improving Access to Modern Energy Services
Advancing Bioenergy Resources
Supporting Climate Policy Processes
………………for Sustainable Development
A-B-C for D
SEI Climate and Energy Programme Strategy
provides focal points for SEI policy analysis,
research, and capacity-building efforts

Recent or ongoing SEI bioenergy
programmes, projects, and networks
 Advancing Modern Bioenergy: Guidelines for Policymakers and
Investors; World Bank/ESMAP (2001-2005)
 Cane Resources Network for Southern Africa (CARENSA); EC/FP5,
2002-06
 Renewable Energy Partnerships for Africa; EC/FP6, 2004-2005
 Biomass, Livelihoods & International Trade; Sida, 2005-2007
 Bioenergy for Development in a Changing Climate; Sida,2007-09
 Competence Platform on Energy Crop and Agro-forestry Systems
for Semi-arid Ecosystems in Africa (COMPETE); EC/FP6, 2007-09
 Briefing Paper for European Parliament on EU Biofuels Target and
Sustainability Criteria, 2008
 Clean Cooking Fuels in the East African Community (EAC), 2008
 Household Energy: Analysis of ethanol cook stoves in
Ethiopia, 2008

What is Biomass? – living matter originating from plants and
animals: primary, secondary, tertiary sources
Biomass ≠ Bio-energy!
Many inter-connected and critical functions/services:
• The 4Fs: Food, Feed, Fibre, and Fuel.........
• .......and still more Fs: Fertiliser, Feedstocks, Flora, Fauna
• Shelter, housing, household materials
• Livelihoods, entrepreneurship, local business opportunities
• Maintenance of Biodiversity
• Ecosystem functions and integrity
• Nutrient cycles and functional synergies
• Water quality, erosion control, watershed maintenance
• Recreation, peacefulness, tranquillity, wildlife observation
• Contribution to human dignity and equality
• Shaping the role of citizens and communities as caretakers
• Resource Base for Future Generations

Energy-Environment-Development driving forces for bio-energy
development and North-South Collaboration
• Rural development - creation of sustainable livelihoods
• Relieving resource pressures and stresses
• Socioeconomics of urbanisation and migration
• Energy security: local – regional – global
• Rural health issues - indoor air
• Urban health issues – lead, air quality
• future competitiveness of agro-industries
• Kyoto Annex 1 countries seeking carbon credits
• Developing countries looking for foreign investment through
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
• Dependence on fossil fuels in increasingly volatile market
• Reduced vulnerability of poor farmers through diversification

Bio-energy production potential in 2050 for different scenarios
136
111
68
32 40 221
14 2
0 178
137 CIS &
111 W.Europe
1 8 14 17 Baltic States 21
34 32 39 10 0 0 0 0
4 1 2 E.Europe
315 Near East & 410 East Asia Japan
North America
253 North Africa 331 21 24 Ameri
14 21
178
South Asia 125
100
46 149
60
41 15
Caribean & Oceania
harves ting res idues Latin America sub-Saharan America
bioenergy crops Africa Potential in Oceania
is 4-6 times projected
125 primary energy use
100
Source: E. Smeets, A. Faaij, I. Lewandowski – March 2004
60
A quickscan of global bio-energy potentials to 2050: analysis of the regional availability of biomass resources
4
for export in relation to underlying factors, Copernicus Institute - Utrecht University, NWS-E-2004-109.

Intensity of agricultural cultivation remains
low in most world regions

Share of biomass in global energy consumption
Other ‘New’
renewables
5%
Large hydro
Modern bio- 16%
energy
11%
Other
Traditional renewables
biomass 3%
68%
Biomass
11%
Oil
Nuclear
35%
7%
Coal
22%
Natural gas
22%
Source: IEA and UNDP, 2004-2007

Sub-Saharan Africa energy consumption
Excluding South Africa
Nuclear
0%
Coal
11% Oil
13%
Hydro
2% Gas Including South Africa
3%
Nuclear Oil
Coal 1% 13%
21%
Gas
3%
Hydro
1%
combustible
renewables
and waste
71%
combustible
renewables
and waste
61%
Source: UNDP World Energy Assessment, 2004

Distribution of biomass used for
energy by type and end-use

Share of Traditional Biomass in Residential Consumption
Source: IEA, World Energy Outlook 2006, page 423.
2.5 billion people depend on traditional biomass for cooking

Covering a charcoal kiln

Charcoal bag distribution by truck
(note the driver having a nap underneath it)

The Role of modern bioenergy
Modern bioenergy will play a leading role in the global transition to clean and
sustainable energy due to two decisive advantages over other renewables:
(1) Biomass is stored energy. Like fossil fuels, it can be drawn on at any time, in sharp
contrast to daily or seasonally intermittent solar, wind, and small hydro sources,
whose contributions are all constrained by the high costs of energy storage.
(2) Biomass can produce all forms of energy, i.e. energy carriers, for modern
economies: electricity, gas, liquid fuels, and heat. Solar, wind, wave and hydro are
limited to electricity and in some cases heat.
Modern bioenergy has several other advantages over other energy resources:
• provides rural jobs and income to people who grow or harvest the bioenergy
resources; bioenergy is more labour-intensive than other energy resources;
• increases profitability in the agriculture, food-processing and forestry sectors.
Biomass residues and wastes--often with substantial disposal costs--can instead be
converted to energy for sale or for internal use to reduce energy bills;
• helps to restore degraded lands. Growing trees, shrubs or grasses can reverse
damage to soils, with energy production and sales as a valuable bonus;

Steps and resources in biomass conversion to
energy products and fuels

Sugar Cane Harvesting in Malawi

Eucalyptus plantation in
Brazil

Ethanol for cooking
stoves

Bioenergy market development
1.Local use of forest and agricultural residues
2.Assuring proper waste treatment, processing of
residues, and energy efficiency
3.Infrastructure development
4.National market development through supportive
policies and incentives
5.Regional biomass markets, medium-to-large scale
utilization, transport logistics
6. Increasing scale, followed by decreasing costs
7. Global commodity market

Livelihoods – creation of jobs in energy industries
Energy source Jobs per TWh output
Nuclear 75
Small hydro 120
Natural gas 250
Big hydro 250
Oil 260
Oil offshore 265
Coal 370
Traditional biomass (wood) 733 - 1.067
Wind 918 - 2.400
Ethanol (in Brazil) 3.711 - 5.392
Solar 2.958 – 10.700
Source: Delcio, 2007

Major Barriers to Modern Bioenergy
Markets in Least Developed Countries
• The Three I’s: Infrastructure, Investment, and Institutions
• Infrastructure:
• difficulty in getting products to regional and international markets
• technology platforms too often based on “northern” standards
• very large region: SSA is bigger than Brazil, China, and India combined
• low technical capacity to adapt to technical standards (i.e. fuel quality)
• Investment:
• demand is too small for local markets to develop or attract investment
• demand is not well-articulated in terms of end-use sectors
• investment risk is seen as very high in macro-economic terms
• Institutions:
• lack of well-defined regulations for energy firm ownership and operation
• intra-regional economic cooperation at a very early stage; some regions
(southern Africa) dominated by one country (South Africa)
• low government capacity to implement bioenergy policies
• low administrative capacity to prove compliance with biofuel certification

Bioenergy Development Options - Scale matters
Large Scale Small Scale
1. Sugarcane to EtOH 1. Sweet Sorghum – micro-distillery
2. Palm / Soy Biodiesel 2. Woodlot gasification elec.
Mill-owned Small-holder Multi-product Single
estate led or multi-crop Bioenergy
Very competitive Higher cost base
e.g. sweet sorghum Product
globally Less globally Economics e.g. multi-species
Uncertain woodlot
competitive
Lower Value Higher Value Complex- Value Added
Added to Local Added to Value Added to to Local
Communities Local Local Communities
*lowest risk Communities Communities *high risk
Export potential *moderate risk *high risk Complex food-
fuel-cash-crop
Export potential Local Markets interactions
Social Issues
Crop not well
SOURCE: Woods, J. Foucs 14: IFPRI, 2006 characterised

Land Suitability for Sugarcane Cultivation in SADC
Legend
SLCR Areas
 Potential small, medium and large International Areas
National Areas (No Categories)
scale areas (rain fed & irrigated) National Areas (IUCN Categorised)
suitable and available for sugarcane in
Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and
Zambia
Limited Potential for medium to large
scale and irrigated plantings in South
Africa and Zimbabwe
Limited Potential for any new
plantings in Mauritius
Cautious establishment at present of
new plantations by potential investors
in Angola and DRC 0
-
200 400
Kilometres
600
Malawi Mozambique Tanzania Zambia Total
Estimated suitable/available land (1000 ha) 206 2338 124 1178 3856
Estimated suitable/available land (%) 2.2 3.0 0.2 1.6 1.5
Ratio of maximum to current production 10 585 5 69 61
Source: UKwZN 2007, South Africa

rapid growth of sweet sorghum (3-4 months)

Land suitability for sweet sorghum (using FAO data)
Country Total Land Suitable Share
(1000ha)
Low – Inputs High - Inputs
Malawi 9408 11% 26%
Mozambique 78409 16% 28%
South Africa 121447 0% 1%
Tanzania 88359 4% 13%
Zambia 74339 8% 34%
Zimbabwe 38685 0% 3%

North-South trade in biomass: conflict or synergy?
Market or environment?
Trade or aid?
Local or global?
Food, feed, or fuel?
Technology or behaviour?
Efficiency or equity?
Industry or society?
Capital or labour?

Land area per capita by type and
major countries or regions
5.00
4.50
4.00
3.50
Area (ha per capita)
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
China Brazil ASEAN EU27 India Other Asia SADC Sub- United WORLD
Saharan States of
Africa America
Arable land and Permanent crops Permanent meadows and pastures Forest area Other land
Source: FAOSTAT, 2008

Estimated 1st generation biofuel potentials, theoretical biofuel demands
and production capacities (as of end 2006) for selected world regions
(Areas of circles depict approximate comparative scales)

FOSSIL ENERGY BALANCE
Energy output per unit of fossil fuel input
ETHANOL BIODIESEL
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Sugar Wheat Sugar Corn Palm Oil Waste Soy Rape
Cane Beets vegetable
Oil
Source: Various, compiled by World Watch Institute, 2006.

Yield comparison: 1st Generation Biofuels
Biofuel Energy
Seed yield Crop yield
Crop yield yield
(t/ha) (t/ha)
(litre/ha) (GJ/ha)
Sugarcane
100 7500 157.5
(juice)
Palm oil 9800 70 3000 105.0
Sweet
60 4200 88.2
sorghum
Maize 7 2500 52.5
Jatropha 740 700 24.5
Soybean 480 500 17.5

Carbon debt, biofuel carbon debt allocation, annual carbon repayment rate, and years to repay biofuel
carbon debt for nine scenarios of biofuel production
Published by AAAS
J. Fargione et al., Science 319, 1235 -1238 (2008)

Estimated levels of land degradation by major region
Total Degradation:
None
Light
Moderate
Severe
Severe
Very
degradation: Moderate –
Light-Very Very Severe
Severe
Sub-Saharan 33 24 18 15 10 65 42
Africa
North Africa and 30 17 19 28 7 70 52
Near East
Asia and Pacific 28 12 32 22 7 72 61
North Asia east of 53 14 12 17 4 47 33
Urals
South and Central 23 27 23 22 5 77 50
America
Europe 9 21 22 36 12 90 70
North America 51 16 16 16 0 44 29
World 35 18 21 20 6 65 47
Source: UNEP, 1992

What is one buying when importing biofuels?
Is it Or is
technology? it the
Sun?
What is the preferred way to cut butter?
With a knife? Or with a chainsaw?

International Partners
ENDA-TM
CEEEZ
Centre for
Energy, Environment and
Engineering Zambia Limited
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Research Directorate-General

Thanks are extended to EC
DG-Research and Sida-INEC
for financial support!
www.carensa.net
www.sei.se