Port of Tyne has signed Glasgow Declaration on Sustainable Bioenergy, which sets out how wood-based bioenergy can help tackle climate change, with a world-wide industry standard for sustainability at its core.
The Declaration has been signed by a coalition of thirteen wood bioenergy companies and organisations from around the world and sets out a vision for the sector’s ambitious growth to support the push to global Net Zero.
By 2030, sustainable wood-based bioenergy is projected to reduce net global emissions by 600 million tonnes of CO2e annually and one billion tonnes of CO2e by 2050 – more than is currently emitted by the world’s entire aviation industry.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says, “Bioenergy use is substantial in 1.5°C pathways with or without BECCS due to its multiple roles in decarbonizing energy use.”
The Declaration sets a global standard of sustainability for the industry, aiming to launch a cross-sector dialogue about how wood bioenergy can deliver to its full potential as an indispensable tool for reaching global Net Zero, according to an announcement by the United Kingdom’s port.
The Glasgow Declaration on Sustainable Bioenergy, published on 10 November, uses International Energy Agency (IEA) data to highlight the indispensable role that sustainable bioenergy will play to help the world achieve global Net Zero by mid-century.
This target would help the world to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, and the IEA’s ‘Net Zero Scenario’ projects threefold growth in the use of sustainable bioenergy to achieve it.
The document also details a framework of sustainability principles that are already helping to deliver sustainable wood-based bioenergy and must continue to underpin the entire industry as it grows internationally. The framework includes robust carbon accounting and supply chain transparency, resource management, biodiversity and supporting communities.
The IEA’s Net Zero Scenario anticipates that sustainable wood bioenergy must increase threefold to deliver 4% of the global energy supply by 2050. These reductions will come from a combination of replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and delivering negative emissions through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
The expansion of wood bioenergy could also support more than 200,000 additional jobs in the supply chain by 2030, and more than 450,000 additional jobs by 2050, providing employment and investment in under-resourced communities in both rural and industrial areas, according to a statement.
