COP30: Bioenergy

Recommendations

• Establish a national strategy for modern bioenergy that recognises its role in energy transition, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and energy security.
• Promote local utilisation of waste and by-products rather than export, through incentives, regulation, and improved logistics.
• Expand district heating and other bioenergy solutions to relieve pressure on the electricity grid and reduce vulnerability in heat supply.
• Support the development and use of biochar as a critical input for green metal industries and as an effective CDR technology.
• Increase research investment in bioenergy, including digitalisation and the use of artificial intelligence for value-chain optimisation.
• Develop industrial production of sustainable biofuels (including SAF and renewable low-carbon marine fuels) and bio-based chemicals as a basis for new value creation and strengthened national preparedness.

Current situation

Bioenergy is a key but underutilised element of the renewable energy transition. It can replace fossil raw materials in the chemical industry, supply carbon for metal production, and help cut emissions in sectors where electrification is difficult — such as aviation and long-distance shipping.

In Norway, substantial quantities of waste and residues that could be used for domestic heat production are currently exported. At the same time, the energy system is highly electricity-dependent, with a large share of consumption used for space heating. This creates additional strain on the power grid, increases vulnerability to price fluctuations, and weakens energy security.

Bioenergy can ease pressure on the power system, diversify the energy mix, and strengthen national energy resilience. It also plays a pivotal role in the development of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies, which are becoming increasingly important for limiting global warming.

Solutions

Biomass represents a flexible, storable resource that can provide energy, carbon, and raw materials for a green industrial transition. Norway and Europe have significant untapped resources that can be sustainably managed to enhance energy transition, create value, and strengthen energy security. Instead of exporting waste and side streams, these should be used locally for the production of heat, fuels, and materials. Expanding district heating and other bioenergy systems can substantially relieve the electricity grid, particularly since space heating represents a large portion of household energy use.

Technologies such as pyrolysis, gasification, and hydrothermal processing can convert biomass into heat, gas, or liquid fuels while producing secondary raw materials that replace fossil inputs. This opens up new value chains in the chemical industry, textiles, construction, metallurgy, and transport.

Marine biomass also has potential as a feedstock for such processes.

Bioenergy is central to the development of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. The combination of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has the potential to deliver large-scale negative emissions, as it relies on renewable biomass while permanently removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.

In the short term, biochar is the most accessible CDR technology. It can be produced from various feedstocks using existing technology, improves soil quality, promotes circular resource use, and can deliver significant negative emissions. In the longer term, BECCS will complement biochar as a large-scale solution, particularly in sectors with high point-source emissions and access to biogenic resources.

Biochar also plays a crucial role in the green metal industry, where carbon is needed in reduction processes for producing silicon, manganese, titanium, and chromium. Establishing sustainable biochar production chains will enhance supply security, reduce emissions, and help preserve industrial jobs in Europe.

Biogenic CO₂ can also be utilised in carbon capture and utilisation (CCU), for example in the production of synthetic fuels such as e-SAF. Biofuels represent a particularly important area: so-called drop-in fuels can be used in existing infrastructure and provide high energy density. This is vital for transport sectors like aviation, where alternatives such as batteries and hydrogen will only be viable for the short- and medium-haul segments in the foreseeable future. Substantial financial support is required to establish industrial-scale production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) in line with ReFuelEU targets.

For maritime transport, bioenergy can also play a decisive role in reducing emissions, as drop-in biofuels can directly replace conventional fossil fuels — enabling emission reductions in the existing fleet. Local production of biofuels will also be important for energy preparedness and national security. Bioenergy provides not only heat and electricity, but also carbon and hydrocarbons — the essential building blocks for green industrial transformation. Developing bio-based value chains can reduce dependence on fossil resources, strengthen the circular economy, and create new industrial opportunities.