Towards More Coherent and Sustainable Biomass Policy: Examining European biomass-to-energy planning

Coordination of policies embracing biomass use has been called for in order to speed up progress towards the European Union renewable energy and climate change goals. Policy coordination and coherence is also required if the many complex and diverse issues constraining sustainable bioenergy development are to be addressed. To contribute to meeting such needs this doctoral thesis provides insights into how to pursue more coherent and sustainable biomass policy interventions. The work explores planning documents and processes relevant to biomass use for energy at both national and regional levels in the EU. The research also investigates the interaction between policy instruments and their impact on biomass use.

This thesis finds that current biomass-to-energy planning is insufficient to deliver coherent, sustainable bioenergy development. The work proposes an approach that can help achieve sound policy and planning processes. This requires adherence to structure, embracing adaptation and continuous improvement, looking beyond a singular focus on energy use, and assessment of policy instrument interactions within the planning framework. Specific actions to overcome barriers in planning processes are delineated. Among other things, these include political and stakeholder commitment to processes that are continuously updated and evaluated, and recognition of regional directions of work in higher level policy-making. The work shows that significant improvements to coordination of, and by, planning can be implemented. Such improvements would help overcome barriers constraining bioenergy progress and consequently assist biomass policy and planning to achieve their intended outcomes.