EMF 33: Bio-Energy and Land Use

Completed

Investigators

John Weyant 

Abstract: 

The EMF 33 Bio-Energy and Land Use study is motivated by the need for information and analysis to help answer two critical questions: (1) How feasible are very low temperature change scenarios rely heavily on massive deployments of advanced bio-energy technologies, and (2) Massive bio-energy expansion could have many large negative side effects on land, water, food; how large could these impacts be and what can be done to limit them.

Bioenergy has been shown to be a potentially valuable, and maybe essential, strategy for long-run climate management. However, there is significant variation in bioenergy deployment results and uncertainty about the social implications and technological challenges associated with large-scale deployment. The EMF 30 Bioenergy Study is focused on understanding, assessing and improving biomass supply and demand modeling within integrated assessment frameworks. Our initial research focus will be on the potential supply of biomass for bioenergy production and its environmental implications. We will then shift our attention to biomass energy conversion and demand with an emphasis on representing the timing and performance of second and possibly third generation bio-energy technologies. The third and final phase of the study will consider fully integrated full scale biomass scenarios including supply, demand, and land use considerations (including the completion for land between bio-energy crops, agriculture and other societal uses).

The steering committee for the EMF 33 BioE/LU MIP is:

Nico Bauer: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research
Allen Fawcett: US Environmental Protection Agency
Nicklaus Forsell, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Shinichiro Fujimori: National Institute for Environmental Studies
Petr Havlik: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
George Hurtt: The University of Maryland
Volker Krey: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Elmar Kriegler: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research
Alexander Popp: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research
Steven Rose: Electric Power Research Institute
Detlef van Vuuren: PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
John Weyant: Stanford University
Marshall Wise: Joint Global Change Research Institute
Wolfgang Zhang: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

The final papers of EMF 33 was published as a Special Issue of Climatic Change and is available for download below:

Project Contact: 

John Weyant

Downloads

An overview of the Energy Modeling Forum 33rd study: assessing large-scale global bioenergy deployment for managing climate chan

Global energy sector emission reductions and bioenergy use: overview of the bioenergy demand phase of the EMF-33 model compariso

Biomass residues as twenty-first century bioenergy feedstock—a comparison of eight integrated assessment models

Bioenergy technologies in long-run climate change mitigation: results from the EMF-33 study

EMF-33 insights on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)

Implications of climate change mitigation strategies on international bioenergy trade

The role of advanced end-use technologies in long-term climate change mitigation: the interlinkage between primary bioenergy and

Bio-energy and CO2 emission reductions: an integrated land-use and energy sector perspective

EMF 33 Bioenergy Study – Pilot Phase Scenario Protocol