UK Low Carbon Transition Plan
The Low Carbon Transition Plan was published on 15 July, explains how the UK will make the permanent shift to a low-carbon economy, including reference to bioenergy and renewable materials. It sets out the long-term strategy to radically cut the nation's carbon emissions by 2020. The Transition Plan is supported by DECC's Renewable Energy Strategy, the DECC/BIS Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, and DfT's Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future.
UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy
The Low Carbon Industrial Strategy sets out the action being taken to ensure that British businesses and workers are equipped to maximise the economic opportunities and minimise the costs of the transition to a low-carbon economy. It includes information on some of the initiatives to help remove the barriers to the use of low-carbon renewable construction materials.
UK Renewable Energy Strategy
The UK Renewable Energy Strategy is DECC's comprehensive action plan for achieving the UK's 15 percent share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target. To meet this target, the current working scenario suggests a need for 12 percent renewable energy in heat, over 30 percent in electricity (including 2 percent in small-scale generation) and 10 percent in transport. DECC's analysis indicates that around 30 percent of the overall renewable energy target could come from biomass heat and power, rising to around 50 percent if biofuels for transport are included.
Sustainability standards for bio-energy
The European Commission's Renewable Energy Directive published in June 2009, includes sustainability criteria that transport biofuels, and bioliquids used for heat and electricity generation must meet in order to receive financial support and to count towards the Directive's renewable energy targets.
On 25 February 2010, the European Commission published its recommendations on sustainability requirements for the use of solid and gaseous biomass sources for heat and electricity generation.
UK Biomass Strategy
The UK Biomass Strategy, published in May 2007, provides a framework for the sustainable development of biomass for:
- heat and power
- transport fuels
- industrial products.
This strategy draws on detailed work, which considers the part biomass can play in meeting our future energy and industrial material needs in a sustainable way:
The UK Biomass Strategy also incorporates work arising from the 2007 response to the Biomass Task Force Report and the 2007 revised Non-Food Crops Strategy action plan, and was published alongside the Energy white paper.
Biomass Task Force
The Biomass Task Force was established in October 2004 under the Chairmanship of Sir Ben Gill, to assist in optimising the contribution of biomass energy to renewable energy targets and to sustainable forestry and farming and rural objectives.
The Task Force reported on the barriers to optimising biomass use in England in October 2005:
Detailed response to report of Biomass Task Force - April 2006
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), jointly with the then Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), published a detailed response to the Task Force recommendations.
Progress reports
The ‘One-year on’ report on the response to the Biomass Task Force report was published at the REA Conference on 20 September 2007. This summarises the progress made in implementing the actions set out in the response to the Biomass Task Force report.
In June 2009, DECC published a final progress report. This sets out in detail achievements on the 61 actions contained in the Response, and explains how continuing and planned future activities will enable DECC to consolidate the successes to date, and help build a competitive and sustainable biomass sector.