Call for Evidence on the role of biomass in achieving net zero
The Carbon Recycling Network contributed to a joint response to the recent Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Call for Evidence on the role of biomass in achieving net zero. The evidence submission was developed in collaboration with the Supergen Bioenergy Hub, Biomass Biorefinery Network, and the High Value Biorenewables Network.
The joint evidence submission considered the supply and use of biomass and highlighted the essential role we believe biomass will play in the transition to net zero, through bioenergy systems, the production of carbon-based chemicals and materials, and as a feedstock in negative emission technologies. The response touched on the benefits of industrial biotechnology for biomass utilisation and the potential of C1 gases (for example from biomass gasification or fermentation) as manufacturing feedstocks, as well as emphasising need for further investment in research, innovation, and scale up facilities.
The responses to the BEIS Call for Evidence will support the development of the upcoming UK Biomass Strategy. It is crucial that this strategy lays out a pathway for the sustainable production and use of biomass and positions the UK as a global leader in this area (a sentiment which echoes that expressed by the CCC in their latest progress report) and to enable this, we must harness the academic expertise within the research community. To this end, the evidence submission was collated by the newly appointed Biomass Policy Fellow, Joanna Sparks, who is working with the Carbon Recycling Network, the Supergen Bioenergy Hub, the Biomass Biorefinery Network, and the High Value Biorenewables Network. Joanna will provide an important connection with government policy makers, and her position provides a unique opportunity to bring together the wealth of expertise within our community and present it in a consolidated way. We believe that this collaborative approach will afford impactful policy engagement, as well as developing capacity and capability for future policy engagement by the research community.
Joanna will be continuing to engage with development of the Biomass Strategy over the coming months, so keep an eye out for further opportunities to get involved in this work!
The submission can be found here