Renewable Energy Policy

Editor's note 23Apr13: Source D141 (common sections), D241, D341.

The heart of Europe's climate and energy policy is the EU Renewable Energy Directive of 2009 (RED; 2009/28/EC), which sets binding targets for the use of renewable energy and bioenergy. First, it states that the EU as a whole must ensure that 20% of total energy consumption comes from renewable sources by 2020. Second, it specifically requires that 10% of all transport fuels is to be derived from renewable sources by 2020 in every Member State.

Renewable energies (wind, solar, geothermal, bioenergy and water power) can have a direct impact on land use through the installation of their facilities and the necessary power distribution infrastructure. Furthermore, bioenergy's elevated status within the RED has particular relevance to LEDD as

1. only biofuels have a specific goal (10% transport fuels) which leading to a politically driven increase in biofuel production on an international level and
2. the expansion of biofuels results in an increase in biomass demand from arable land and forests, leading either to intensification of land use or to additional demand for land.

Both causes can have severe impacts on LEDD, as intensification of agricultural practices often exhausts fertile soils and can lead to further erosion. One problem often associated with the cultivation of energy crops in the EU (especially with rapeseed and maize) is the reduction of crop rotations and the use of monoculture, which increase the risk of soil loss and declining biodiversity. The increasing pressure on land caused by an accelerated demand for biomass even has an international dimension, and can cause deforestation in developing countries where environmental legislation is lacking or poorly enforced. Moreover, if food production is substantially replaced by the cultivation of energy crops, it leads to competition for land, which can result in local food shortages and increasing food prices.

While preventing the negative impacts on soils of renewable installations and power distribution infrastructure is not the subject of the RED, environmental impacts of biofuel production play a particular role via the formulation of sustainability requirements: the directive requires that all biofuel products counting towards the target must reduce GHG emissions of at least 35% compared to fossil fuel, which will increase to 50% in 2017 and to 60% in 2018. Moreover, biomass cannot be derived from land of high biodiversity value, such as natural forests, protected areas and special kinds of grassland, and may not be produced on land with high carbon stocks, such as water-rich areas (e.g. peatlands) and permanently forested areas.

The European Commission is also currently working on an improved assessment of indirect land use change (ILUC). ILUC occurs, when biomass production replaces other land usages to other areas, which can lead to deforestation and conversion of grass- and cropland. Recent studies conclude that going beyond a 5.6% share of biofuels in transport fuel in the EU could cause significant environmental harm globally though direct and indirect land use change.

In addition to the sustainability requirements mentioned above, the 10% target is also bound to the precondition that 2nd generation biofuels (derived from lignocellulosic crops, e.g from short rotation coppice) become commercially available. This may serve as leverage for more sustainable biofuels from a soil conservation perspective: Second generation technologies hardly play a role on the biofuel market yet, but potentially offer environmental benefits over first generation biofuels (made from sugar, starch, and vegetable oil), such as higher yield per acre from a diverse array of feedstocks - this requires less intensive management than annuals, and can have a reduced impact on soil erosion.

However, while the RED imposes sustainability requirements for biofuels, the use of solid and gaseous biomass sources in electricity, heating and cooling does not have to fulfil these requirements. This is why a parallel European renewable policy debate outside the RED is currently discussing the extension of sustainability criteria for these sources.

Relevance for Cropland, Grazing land and Forests/shrubland

The most relevant aspects of the RED with regard to LEDD are binding sustainability requirements, affecting all types of land examined under the LEDDRA project.

GHG emission requirements can impact the extent of cropland used in the EU: the potential inclusion of ILUC (factors) in the RED may lead to some EU biofuels and respective crops (for examples rapeseed for biodiesel) failing to achieve the minimum GHG savings, hence not counting towards the 10% target. Apart from this, the desired shift to 2nd generation biofuels can be beneficial for the soil quality of cropland. Furthermore, some extensively used grazing lands might be defined as highly biodiverse grasslands, which would prohibit biomass extraction for biofuels in these areas. Enforcing respective sustainability criteria could potentially alleviate the additional pressure on grazing lands, which would also impact LEDD, at least in the context of biofuels. However, it should be noted that RED sustainability criteria do not apply to any other land use practise aside from the extraction of biomass for biofuels. As a result, the RED linkage to grazing systems is a rather indirect one. The requirement that forested land not be converted for the production of biofuels is central, as well as the future requirements to prevent indirect land use change (which often causes deforestation).

In general, it can be said that future decisions and regulations in international biofuel policies will have strong implications for LEDD. This is because the biofuels sector is a central driving force for increasing demands for wood and agricultural commodities, which can only be met by further increasing yields associated with intensification of land use and/or by additional land for growing biomass. The latter can result in substantial land use changes from natural land to highly intensified cultivation practices with severe impacts on soil structures, water retention and biodiversity.

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