At an event held today at COP22, in Marrakech, a coalition of 20 countries interested in the clean energy and the bioeconomy fields announced the launch of the Biofuture Platform, a new collective effort to accelerate development and scale up deployment of modern sustainable low-carbon alternatives to fossil based solutions in transport fuels, industrial processes, chemicals, plastics and other sectors. The Biofuture Platform encompasses some of the most relevant countries for the driving of markets and innovation in advanced biofuels and biomaterials. The list of participating countries comprises Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Netherlands, Morocco, Mozambique, Paraguay, Philippines, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay. The launch event was co-hosted by the governments of Brazil and Morocco, with the presence of ministers, heads of delegation, and high-level representatives of the Biofuture Platform partner countries and international organizations. The government of Brazil, who had originally proposed the initiative, was chosen to coordinate the Biofuture Platform’s implementation as its interim facilitator. “Transportation has, so far, been one of the most challenging sectors for mitigation. This is not a matter of selecting between different paths to achieve a certain goal. We need all hands on deck, to explore all avenues towards near and medium term solutions for the transport sector if we are to reach our emissions targets by 2030”, said the Minister of Environment of Brazil, Mr. Sarney Filho, who presided the launch event. “In face of the urgency of fighting climate change, countries cannot afford to ignore the largely underestimated potential of bioenergy, especially in face of new technological developments which are opening the door to a whole new low-carbon bioeconomy as an alternative to fossil-based fuels, chemicals and materials”, said Mr. Sarney Filho. “Sustainable green bioeconomy will and must be the next wave of the global economy and the base of sustainable well-being in the future. Renewable energy, naturally, will be an essential key towards mitigating climate change and towards bioeconomy.”, said the Minister for Agriculture and Environment of Finland, Kimmo Tiilikainen. The launch of this new country-led platform was also hailed by several international organizations and mechanisms, such as IRENA, IEA, FAO, and SE4ALL, as well as private sector associations and initiatives such as the WBCSD, ABBI, UNICA, and below50. “Sustainably-sourced advanced biofuels will be key to expanding the use of renewables in the transport sector. Their high energy density and wide range of feedstock options make them especially vital as a transportation fuel,” said Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). “As we move to deliver a sustainable energy future and meet climate objectives, initiatives for strengthening international cooperation, such as the Biofuture Platform, can make an important contribution.”
“Particularly regarding biofuels, FAO and its partners work to support countries to move from the dualism of ‘food versus fuel’ to the inclusive concept of ‘food and fuel’”, said the Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva. “In this line, FAO welcomes the Biofuture Platform which aims to promote low-carbon solutions and contribute to the global efforts against the impacts of climate change.” According to the Launch Statement endorsed by the twenty-strong group of nations, the Biofuture Platform shall also involve the private sector and other stakeholders and initiatives in a flexible operating model, and address the specific challenges ahead of scaling up a sustainable bioeconomy by promoting international collaboration in policy dialogue; research and development; and by facilitating an enabling environment for advanced low-carbon fuel and bioeconomy-related investments. Additional Context and Pictures The Biofuture Platform builds on the commitments established by Rio+20, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. The initiative has the potential of contributing significantly in the global fight against climate change, nurturing solutions that can help countries in reaching their Nationally Determined Contribution targets (NDCs), as well as to contribute towards the SDGs. The Biofuture Platform stems from the realization that there is an urgent need for sustainable, immediately scalable solutions to reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector. Transportation is the sector that has so far been one of the most challenging for mitigation. It accounts for around a quarter of the world’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Low carbon fuels are the fastest alternative to reduce carbon intensity in the transport sector without waiting for major fleet and infrastructure changes. Independent assessments have indicated a reduction of up to 90% in CO2 emissions for cellulosic biofuels, when compared to those of gasoline. The Biofuture Platform will be geared to fill the attention gap in the transportation and industry sectors, raising bioeconomy solutions in the global agenda and promoting policy dialogue and collaboration among leading countries, organizations, academia and the private sector. The Platform will be driven by its members by means of simple procedures, leveraging the work already being undertaken by countries, organizations, and other stakeholders around the world in order to reach tangible outcomes in bioeconomy-related policies, investment facilitation, R&D, innovation, and sustainability practices.
Additional photos of the event (free use and distribution, credit “COP22 – Brazil”) are available at: https://goo.gl/photos/D2NcbArnHi9iUwfx7
Additional Quotes
“In face of the urgency of fighting climate change, countries cannot afford to ignore the largely underestimated potential of bioenergy, especially in the face of new technological developments which are opening the door to a whole new low-carbon bioeconomy as an alternative to fossil-based fuels, chemicals and materials” José Sarney Filho, Minister for the Environment, Brazil
“For developing the bioeconomy the competitiveness of the existing and emerging bio-based industries has to be secured. In other words, a favorable operating environment is needed. To promote bioeconomy competitiveness and growth it is important to create a shared bioeconomy vision. The vision should provide systematic foresight and to create smart regulation. This helps to remove growth bottlenecks and improve the predictability of the operational environment.” Kimmo Tiilikainen. Minister for Agriculture and Environment of Finland.
“Biofuel plays a significant role in emission reduction and replacing transport fuels, I expect the Biofuture Platform Initiative to become a new platform for countries to exchange best practices in developing biofuel, and promote the transformation of the global economy toward a green and low carbon path.” Minister Xie Zhenhua, China’s Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs
“Our challenges are particularly critical in the transportation sector, which accounts for 70% of our nation petroleum’s consumption and nearly one-third of our greenhouse gas emissions. It will be clearly impossible to reduce the emissions by 80% by 2050 without clean transportation fuels and the development of a green bioeconomy. My hope and expectation is that the Biofuture Platform creates an opportunity for a candid exchange of how we can use biomass to help meet our global climate challenges. I expect our joint actions led by the Government of Brazil during the implementation process will leverage existing resources that unify strengths available in the different international organizations towards a sustainable advanced bioeconomy”. Jonathan Pershing, Special Envoy for Climate Change, United States of America
“In Britain, we are actually creating fuel from waste products, waste from food residues, not from food crops, and this offers something like 95% carbon savings compared with conventional fossil fuels. We are producing a fuel that is compatible with existing engines and that offers economic benefits. We are looking at an anticipated benefit to the country of about 50 billion pounds per annum by 2030. The government is therefore seeking to create this market and we are looking at procedures right now to see that this market for this new liquid fuel rapidly evolves. […] For all of these reasons, the UK is very happy to be joining this, let me say, important but also thoughtful Biofuture Platform”. Sir David King, Special Representative for Climate Change, United Kingdom “We know that the Biofuture Platform will allow us to identify, develop and implement mitigation measures in relation to transport sector, which constitutes one of the main sources of emissions of carbon dioxide. The increasing experience of Uruguay in the biofuels development shows that it has been extremely positive, not only in terms of environmental sustainability with economy growth, but also in social impact where bio-refineries are found.” Eneida de León, Minister for Habitation, Territory and Environment of Uruguay
“FAO and its partners work to support countries to move from the dualism of ‘food versus fuel’ to the inclusive concept of ‘food and fuel’”, said the Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva. “In this line, FAO welcomes the Biofuture Platform which aims to promote low-carbon solutions and contribute to the global efforts against the impacts of climate change.” José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
“Sustainably-sourced advanced biofuels will be key to expanding the use of renewables in the transport sector. Their high energy density and wide range of feedstock options make them especially vital as a transportation fuel. As we move to deliver a sustainable energy future and meet climate objectives, initiatives for strengthening international cooperation, such as the Biofuture Platform, can make an important contribution.” Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
“From the perspective of the IEA, in order to achieve a decarbonized transport future we need to marshal all the opportunities, all the available technologies: electrification of transport, obviously energy efficiency, and the development of effective public transport systems. But biofuels have a unique role to play here. In fact the IEA scenarios suggest that by 2050 we will have to rely on biofuels for about 25% of all the transport fuel needs if we are to keep the rise of global temperature below 2 degrees.” Paul Simons, Deputy-Executive Director, IEA.
“Transportation solutions are very important for the sustainable economy in line with our ability to use every dimension of energy productivity, efficiency, and every dimension of the new sources of energy and the bioeconomy […] We believe there is an easier, faster, cheaper way to emerge in the century where we need to be, that will require discipline in the government across all aspects in the economy, it will require ingenuity in business, it will require scrutiny from our civil society and creativity of communities. This is a remarkably important platform, it is the right platform, at the right time.” Rachel Kyte, Chief Executive Officer, SE4ALL
“The challenge for transportation is huge: we have to meet the growing demand while simultaneously reducing emissions. We are all here for the same reason: we need to transform the transport sector. We need a shared vision. There isn’t a cohesive plan, as of yet, that addresses climate change through sustainable alternative fuels in transport at a global scale” Peter White, Vice President and COO, WBCSD
“Transportation decisions at a national and municipal level, but also globally, must go hand in hand with energy decisions if sustainable development is to be achieved; actually, it includes a shift to high efficiency and low carbon modes of transport. This international Biofuture Platform is bound to increase demand for innovative policies and integrated solutions to address energy, climate and development challenges simultaneously.” Li Yong, Director-General, UNIDO.