European Convention on Global Sustainable Bioenergy   24 – 26 February 2010, Delft, The Netherlands

Europe kicks off the Global Bioenergy Project

At least 20% of the energy needs in Europe can be met by bioenergy from sustainable agriculture without compromising food safety and security. Key sustainability issues such as the use of water and maintenance of biodiversity can be respected. In fact, bioenergy could even bolster food security. These are the conclusions of the first European Convention on Sustainable Bioenergy that was held last week by the Kluyver Centre in Delft, The Netherlands. Over 70 European stakeholders in bioenergy agreed on a European Resolution that will serve as input for the Global Sustainable Bioenergy (GSB) Project later this year.

During the Convention scientists, researchers, and representatives from a wide spectrum of energy related areas around the world discussed and identified options, visions and needs for the next 50 years. They deliberated whether biomass could and should play a substantial role in energy production and whether this can be done in a sustainable way without compromising food security. 

Region-specific
The Convention participants identified a number of useful initiation points for further study designed to ensure that region-specific conditions and cultural aspects are respected. These points can then be translated to action plans for effective research and implementation. These studies are timely and urgent as they will clarify to policy makers how such sustainable scenarios and the transition away from unsustainable forms of energy can be realised over the next decade.

Stakeholders
Establishing improved communication and involvement of a broad range of stakeholders were also identified as important goals of the GSB project. Mitigation of climate change and food security are seen by the public as defining issues of our time. To most, it is not clear how we can achieve both of these while also producing significant amounts of bioenergy production. Citizens and other stakeholders need to be more engaged in this debate to create a mutually supported and accepted way forward.

European Resolution
A European Resolution was drawn up at the end of the three day meeting. Four more resolutions will follow from the remaining continental conventions, highlighting continental and regional opportunities and challenges. A final global Common Resolution will incorporate the regional resolutions to form a final agreed global white paper.

Transition
Lee Lynd of Dartmouth College, USA, initiator of the GSB project said,” The sustainable resource transition is the defining challenge of our time. There have really only been two prior major resource transitions in human history: the first one was going from a hunting and gathering society to a pre- industrial agricultural society. The second was going from a pre-industrial agricultural society to a pre-sustainable industrial society which is where we are now. We need to undergo this third transition to a sustainable agricultural society and if we fail it will be a great tragedy for humanity.” Enabling such a sustainable agricultural society  will require novel, radical approaches. However, the Convention agreed that this can be done: “Never doubt the capacity of a few determined people to change the world, because they have. To get from the present to the future we have to free our ideas of the present. It takes sharing visions and ideas.”

More information
About the European Convention:
Prof. Patricia Osseweijer, Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation,  p.osseweijer@tudelft.nl, +31 (0)15 278  5140 (office); 31 15 651033916 (cell), http://www.kluyvercentre.nl/content/gsb/gsb.html

About European land availability for bioenergy:
Dr. Jeremy Woods, Porter Alliance, jeremy.woods@imperial.ac.uk, +44 (0) 20 7594 9328, http://www.porteralliance.org.uk/

About the GSB Project:
Prof. Lee Lynd, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth, Lee.Lynd@Dartmouth.edu, +1 603 646 2231 (office); +1 617 697 7372 (cell), http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/gsbproject/
 

More about the Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project
The European Convention of the Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project is the first of a series of 5 conventions aiming to provide guidance on the feasibility of sustainable bioenergy production on a large scale as well as implementation paths and policies that foster this outcome. Although there is widespread agreement that a biobased economy could be desirable for climate change mitigation and increasing energy security, there is still great confusion and uncertainty about whether the world should look to bioenergy to play a prominent role in the future, and if so, what policy frameworks are needed to ensure a sustainable result. The Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project seeks to address this dilemma in an open and transparent manner structured in three steps:

1) Convene five continential conventions to gather input on framing stages 2 and 3, agree on continental and common resolutions, and increase project visibility;

2) Test the working hypothesis that it is physically possible to gracefully reconcile very large-scale bioenergy production with competing land demands (e.g. to produce energy for more than a quarter of global mobility or equivalent);

3) Develop recommended transition paths and policies informed by the analysis of the economic, ethical, equity, and local-scale rural economic development issues.

Each convention aims to provide a platform for regional and trans-national opportunities, challenges and concerns. These meetings are characterised by extensive break-out sessions to gather input from all participants. The outcome of the meetings will be a report summarising the input on framing stages 2) and 3), presenting a common resolution addressing the working hypothesis upon which stage 2) is based and the need to address it, and five resolutions representing the distinctive perspectives on bioenergy from each of the world's continents.

The project involves many leading experts in the bioenergy field, and aims to increase this number and involve all those who are willing to help to realise a sustainable future. Stage 1 meetings are hosted by leading academic centres, with the European Convention will be hosted by the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation.