Mid Sweden University

A steep increase of small papillary thyroid cancers (sPTCs) has been observed globally. A major risk factor for developing PTC is ionizing radiation. The aim of this study is to investigate the spatial distribution of sPTC in Sweden and the extent to which prevalence is correlated to gamma radiation levels (Caesium-137 (Cs-137), Thorium-232 (Th-232), Uranium-238 (U-238) and Potassium-40 (K-40)) using multiple geospatial and geostatistical methods. The prevalence of metastatic sPTC was associated with significantly higher levels of Gamma radiation from Th-232, U-238 and K-40. The association is, however, inconsistent and the prevalence is higher in densely populated areas. The results clearly indicate that sPTC has causative factors that are neither evenly distributed among the population, nor geographically, calling for further studies with bigger cohorts. Environmental factors are believed to play a major role in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Biomass co-firing with coal is a near-term option to displace fossil fuels and can facilitate the development of biomass conversion and the build-out of biomass supply infrastructure. A GIS-based modeling framework (EU-28, Norway, and Switzerland) is used to quantify and localize biomass demand for co-firing in coal power plants and agricultural and forest residue supply potentials; supply and demand are then matched based on minimizing the total biomass transport costs (field to gate). Key datasets (e.g., land cover, land use, and wood production) are available at 1,000m or higher resolution, while some data (e.g., simulated yields) and assumptions (e.g., crop harvest index) have lower resolution and were resampled to allow modeling at 1,000m resolution. Biomass demand for co-firing is estimated at 184 PJ in 2020, corresponding to an emission reduction of 18Mt CO2. In all countries except Italy and Spain, the sum of the forest and agricultural residues available at less than 300km from a co-firing plant exceeds the assessed biomass demand. The total cost of transporting residues to these plants is reduced if agricultural residues can be used, as transport distances are shorter. The total volume of forest residues less than 300km from a co-firing plant corresponds to about half of the assessed biomass demand. Almost 70% of the total biomass demand for co-firing is found in Germany and Poland. The volumes of domestic forest residues in Germany (Poland) available within the cost range 2-5 (1.5-3.5) Euro/GJ biomass correspond to about 30% (70%) of the biomass demand. The volumes of domestic forest and agricultural residues in Germany (Poland) within the cost range 2-4 (below 2) Euro/GJ biomass exceed the biomass demand for co-firing. Half of the biomass demand is located within 50km from ports, indicating that long-distance biomass transport by sea is in many instances an option.

Bioenergy can contribute to achieving European Union (EU) climate targets while mitigating impacts from current agricultural land use. A GIS-based modeling framework (1000 m resolution) is employed to match biomass supply (forest and agricultural residues, complemented by lignocellulosic energy crops where needed)with biomass demand for either electricity or bio-oil production on sites currently used for coal power in the EU-28, Norway, and Switzerland. The framework matches supply and demand based on minimizing the field-to-gate costs and is used to provide geographically explicit information on (i) plant-gate supply cost; (ii) CO2 savings;and (iii) potential mitigation opportunities for soil erosion, flooding, and eutrophication resulting from the introduction of energy crops on cropland. Converting all suitable coal power plants to biomass and assuming that biomass is sourced within a transport distance of 300 km, would produce an estimated 150 TW h biomass-derived electricity, using 1365 PJ biomass, including biomass from energy crops grown on 6 Mha. Using all existing coal power sites for bio-oil production in100-MW pyrolysis units could produce 820 PJ of bio-oil, using 1260 PJ biomass, including biomass from energy crops grown on 1.8 Mha. Using biomass to generate electricity would correspond to an emissions reduction of135 MtCO2, while using biomass to produce bio-oil to substitute for crude oil would correspond to a reduction of59 MtCO2. In addition, energy crops can have a positive effect on soil organic carbon in most of the analyzed countries. The mitigation opportunities investigated range from marginal to high depending on location.

Three scenarios of large-scale deployment for riparian buffers and windbreaks, across over 81,000 landscapes in Europe, with quantified corresponding areas, biomass output, and environmental benefits.

Abstract:

Within the scope of the new Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, in coherence with other EU policies, new incentives are developed for farmers to deploy practices that are beneficial for climate, water, soil, air, and biodiversity. Such practices include establishment of multifunctional biomass production systems, designed to reduce environmental impacts while providing biomass for food, feed, bioenergy, and other biobased products. Here, we model three scenarios of large-scale deployment for two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across over 81,000 landscapes in Europe, and quantify the corresponding areas, biomass output, and environmental benefits. The results show that these systems can effectively reduce nitrogen emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, having limited negative effects on current agricultural production. This kind of beneficial land-use change using strategic perennialization is important for meeting environmental objectives while advancing towards a sustainable bioeconomy. 

Society faces the double challenge of increasing biomass production to meet the future demands for food,materials and bioenergy, while addressing negative impacts of current (and future) land use. In the discourse,land use change (LUC) has often been considered as negative, referring to impacts of deforestation and expansion of biomass plantations. However, strategic establishment of suitable perennial production systems in agricultural landscapes can mitigate environmental impacts of current crop production, while providing biomass for the bioeconomy.

Here, we explore the potential for such “beneficial LUC” in EU28. First, we map and quantify thedegree of accumulated soil organic carbon losses, soil loss by wind and water erosion, nitrogen emissions towater, and recurring floods, in ∼81.000 individual landscapes in EU28. We then estimate the effectiveness inmitigating these impacts through establishment of perennial plants, in each landscape.

The results indicate that there is a substantial potential for effective impact mitigation. Depending on criteria selection, 10–46% of the land used for annual crop production in EU28 is located in landscapes that could be considered priority areas for beneficial LUC. These areas are scattered all over Europe, but there are notable “hot-spots” where priority areas are concentrated, e.g., large parts of Denmark, western UK, The Po valley in Italy, and the Danube basin. While some policy developments support beneficial LUC, implementation could benefit from attempts to realize synergies between different Sustainable Development Goals, e.g., “Zero hunger”, “Clean water and sanitation”, “Affordable and Clean Energy”, “Climate Action”, and “Life on Land”. 

This is the input dataset to a Python script (https://github.com/oskeng/MF-bio-grass) used to model the effects of widespread deployment of grass in rotations with annual crops to provide biomass while remediating soil organic carbon (SOC) losses and other environmental impacts.

For more information about the dataset and the study, see the original article:

Englund, O., Mola-Yudego, B., Börjesson, P., Cederberg, C., Dimitriou, I., Scarlat, N., Berndes, G. Large-scale deployment of grass in crop rotations as a multifunctional climate mitigation strategy. GCB Bioenergy

Usage Notes:

The data file (Geopackage) can be opened using standard GIS software, preferably GRASS GIS or QGIS (both open source).This dataset is intended as input to a Python script (https://github.com/oskeng/MF-bio-grass) that must be run from within a GRASS GIS session.

Due to concerns about climate change, energy security, and resource scarcity, non- renewable resources are increasingly being displaced by biomass. As with most human activities, the production of biobased products can be associated with negative impacts. Primarily, this relates to the biomass supply systems, i.e., agriculture and forestry, which currently are major causes of biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem services. Developing sustainable production systems when transitioning from non-renewable resources to biomass is imperative. This thesis aims to clarify the meaning of sustainability in the context of biomass for bioenergy, and contribute to our understanding of how different forms of governance can promote sustainably sourced biomass for bioenergy. The thesis is based on five appended papers: Paper I analyses to what extent, where, and under what conditions oil palm for biodiesel in Brazil can be produced profitably, and what risks and opportunities that can be associated with introducing large-scale oil palm production in Brazil. Paper II lays the foundation for understanding how new biomass production can be introduced into landscapes while supporting rather than compromising the ability of the landscape to supply other ecosystem services. Paper III describes different forms of governance and shows how these can play different roles in promoting sustainable bioenergy in different countries. Paper IV focuses on how short rotation coppice production systems are affected by EU policy and how different governance forms can assist in adapting production systems to conform to the corresponding sustainability requirements. Finally, Paper V assesses how sustainability certification (private governance) addresses biodiversity conservation and contributes to our understanding of possible improvements.

The global energy system needs to be transformed from fossil dependent to renewable, to cope with the challenges of resource scarcity and climate change. Bioenergy can play an important role in this transformation, but land is scarce, and uncontrolled bioenergy expansion could have unacceptable consequences. This thesis contributes to the understanding of (i) how bioenergy governance can be improved to better safeguard sustainability; and (ii) the extent to which biomass can be used for energy, focusing on the potential for biodiesel from Brazilian oil palm.In Paper I, we present sustainability criteria that may affect a range of stakeholders involved with short rotation coppice (SRC) bioenergy, and attempt to outline a framework for engaging relevant stakeholders in the development of sustainable SRC. In Paper II, we present an assessment of how biodiversity is considered in different types of sustainability standards. We discuss key barriers to, and challenges for, certification schemes in general, and conclude that all the assessed standards can, to a varying degree, be improved to better consider biodiversity. In Paper III, we analyse the economic potential of producing oil palm for biodiesel in Brazil in different policy scenarios, as well as the corresponding trade-offs with various conservation objectives. The results unveil a very large economic potential: Without causing any direct land use change emissions and without inflicting on high conservation value areas, a total of 71-89 Mha land could support production of 6.9-7.8 EJ/year of biodiesel, corresponding to 13-15% of the global petrodiesel demand.

This chapter presents an assessment of how biodiversity is considered in different types of sustainability standards. First, biodiversity is defined and strategies for biodiversity conservation are discussed. Then, standards for sustainable production of biomass in agriculture and forestry are evaluated on how they consider biodiversity, i.e., how they attempt to prevent actions that can threaten biodiversity and support actions that can conserve it. It is also assessed how sustainability standards address the conversion of certain ecosystem types. A broad set of standards is included relating to either sustainable agricultural management, sustainable forest management, or sustainable production of biofuel feedstocks. Similarities and differences within and between the three categories are identified. Finally, key barriers to, and challenges for, certification schemes are discussed, and recommendations are made for further development of sustainability standards. 

Sustainability certification schemes and standards are meant to prevent a range of unacceptable socioeconomic and environmental consequences, such as threats to biodiversity. While there is wide support for conserving biodiversity, operationalizing this support in the form of guiding principles, criteria/indicators, and legislation is complicated. This study investigates how and to what extent 26 sustainability standards (eleven for forest management, nine for agriculture and six biofuel-related) consider biodiversity, by assessing how they seek to prevent actions that can threaten biodiversity as well as how they support actions aimed at biodiversity conservation. For this purpose, a benchmark standard was developed, meant to represent a case with very high ambitions concerning biodiversity conservation. Of the assessed standards, the biofuel-related standards demonstrated the highest level of compliance with the benchmark. On average, they complied with 72% of the benchmark’s component criteria, compared to 61% for the agricultural standards and 60% for the forestry standards. Fairtrade, Sustainable Agriculture Network/Rainforest Alliance (SAN/RA), Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS) were particularly stringent, while Green Gold Label S5 (GGLS5), PEOLG, Global Partnership for Good Agricultural Practices (GLOBALGAP), European Union Organic (EU Organic), National Organic Program (NOP), Green Gold Label S2 (GGLS2), and International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) were particularly unstringent. All eleven forestry standards, six of the nine agricultural standards, and all six biofuel-related standards addressed ecosystem conversion, ranging from requiring that high conservation value areas be identified and preserved to requiring full protection. Finally, key barriers to, and challenges for, certification schemes are discussed and recommendations are made for further development of sustainability standards. WIREs Energy Environ 2015, 4:26-50. doi: 10.1002/wene.118 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.

Ecosystem services (ES) is a significant research topic with diverse modelling and mapping approaches. However, the variety of approaches along with an inconsistent terminology cause uncertainties concerning the choice of methods. This paper identifies and qualitatively assesses methods for mapping ES in terrestrial landscapes, based on a systematic review of the scientific literature. It further aims to clarify the associated terminology, in particular the concept of landscape and landscape scale. In total, 347 cases of ES mapping were identified in the reviewed papers. Regulating and maintenance services were most commonly mapped (165), followed by cultural (85), and provisioning services (73). For individual ES, a large variation in number of mapping cases was found. This variation may either reflect the perceived importance of the ES, or that different ES can be more or less easily mapped. Overall, Logical models and Empirical models were most commonly used, followed by Extrapolation, Simulation/Process models, Data integration, and Direct mapping. Only twelve percent of all ES mapping cases were validated with empirical data. The review revealed highly diverging views on the spatial extent of landscapes in studies of ES, and that the term landscape is sometimes used rather arbitrarily.

Short rotation coppice (SRC) is considered an important biomass supply option for meeting the European renewable energy targets. This paper presents an overview of existing and prospective sustainability requirements, Member State reporting obligations and parts of the methodology for calculating GHG emissions savings within the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and shows how these RED-associated sustainability criteria may affect different stakeholders along SRC bioenergy supply chains. Existing and prospective tools are assessed on their usefulness in ensuring that SRC bioenergy is produced with sufficient consideration given to the RED-associated criteria. A sustainability framework is outlined that aims at (1) facilitating the development of SRC production systems that are attractive from the perspectives of all stakeholders, and (2) ensuring that the SRC production is RED eligible. Producer manuals, EIAs, and voluntary certification schemes can all be useful for ensuring RED eligibility. However, they are currently not sufficiently comprehensive, neither individually nor combined, and suggestions for how they can be more complementary are given. Geographical information systems offer opportunities for administrative authorities to provide stakeholders with maps or databases over areas/fields suitable for RED-eligible SRC cultivation. However, proper consideration of all relevant aspects requires that all stakeholders in the SRC supply chain become engaged in the development of SRC production systems and that a landscape perspective is used.

Although mainly used for other purposes, and historically mainly established at the expense of tropical forests, oil palm can be the most land efficient feedstock for biodiesel. Large parts of Brazil are suitable for oil palm cultivation and a series of policy initiatives have recently been launched to promote oil palm production. These initiatives are however highly debated both in the parliament and in academia. Here we present results of a high resolution modelling study of opportunities and risks associated with oil palm production for biodiesel in Brazil, under different energy, policy, and infrastructure scenarios. Oil palm was found to be profitable on extensive areas, including areas under native vegetation where establishment would cause large land use change (LUC) emissions. However, some 40-60 Mha could support profitable biodiesel production corresponding to approximately 10% of the global diesel demand, without causing direct LUC emissions or impinging on protected areas. Pricing of LUC emissions could make oil palm production unprofitable on most lands where conversion would impact on native ecosystems and carbon stocks, if the carbon price is at the level $125/tC, or higher.

One important aspect of sustainability in biomass production concerns biodiversity, which is central in ecology and natural resource management. Biodiversity has both intrinsic value and instrumental value to humans and is important for ecosystem stability and provision of the numerous ecosystem services that are essential for human survival. Studies indicate that human activities have increased the species extinction rate, primarily through (i) habitat destruction, degradation and fragmentation; (ii) invasive species; (iii) pollution, including human induced changes in climate; and (iv) over-exploitation of essential resources, including overhunting. Bioenergy expansion may influence most of the causes of increased species extinction rate. The aim of this study is to assess the biodiversity considerations in certification standards for sustainable biomass production. In total, 23 standards for forest management, agricultural management and production of bioenergy crops, were included in the assessment. A harmonization of different definitions of biodiversity was made based on considering principles of conservation biology, in order to identify aspects of biomass production of relevance for biodiversity. Based on the identified aspects, a reference standard was constructed and all included standards were compared with this reference standard as a way to establish how the different standards showed similarities and differences regarding how biodiversity was considered. Restrictions on specific ecosystems conversion were also assessed for all standards. The results showed a noticeable variation in how the certification standards consider aspects of relevance for biodiversity. There was both a variation among similar standards and between different types of standards. In general, the bioenergy crop standards had the strictest rules and restrictions in relation to biodiversity followed by the forest management standards. The agricultural management standards had more lax rules and restrictions. It is proposed that biodiversity conservation in production of sustainable biomass can be improved by further developments of the certification standards.

Bioenergy supply chains pass several layers of governance, including both emerging governance mechanisms that specifically address bioenergy and existing regulations, such as environmental codes affecting forestry and agriculture. The sustainability requirements associated with the EU Renewable Energy Directive (EU-RED) is an example of how norms and sustainability priorities in one region can be expressed so as to influence activities in other regions, when actors in these other regions aim to produce for the EU market. Achieving aspirations for developing sustainable bioenergy production systems and supply and value chains requires coordination among actors and parties to ensure that all necessary governance mechanisms are in place and capable of fulfilling the appropriate standards setting, control, governance and assurance roles that are required, collectively. In this paper, the capacity of public governance to promote bioenergy production for the EU-RED market was assessed for thirteen countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Environmental legislation was assessed on how it covers the sustainability requirements included in EU-RED, as well as general sustainability aspects. The countries’ capacities to enforce legislation were assessed by combining globally applicable indexes. While some aspects (e.g., nature protection) were found to be mostly covered well in legislation, other (e.g., wetland protection, GHG emissions) where covered less well. Results indicate that enforcement of legislation can be a challenge in many countries.

Governance is the sum of formal and informal ways actors and institutions, public and private, manage common affairs. It is a continuing process through which diverging interests may be accommodated and cooperative action may be taken. Sustainability governance is concerned with promoting the positive effects of production or development processes whilst avoiding/mitigating their negative impacts, considering environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability. Bioenergy supply chains involve several layers of governance, including mechanisms that specifically address bioenergy (for example bioenergy sustainability standards and certification systems) and regulation of sectors involved in bioenergy supply chains. This can involve environmental legislation, labour regulations, environmental codes, best-management agriculture/forestry practices and international trade standards. This chapter refers to three forms of governance for the promotion of the sustainable production of biomass and bioenergy: domestic public governance, domestic private governance and international private governance.

An analysis of the legislative readiness among exporting countries to produce biofuels in compliance with the sustainability criteria in the EU Renewable Energy Directive

The European Union requires that 10% of the energy in the transport sector shall come from renewable sources by 2020. In addition, biofuels used for transport need to fulfill certain sustainability requirements set out in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). To meet these requirements, the EU will need to produce and import large amounts of sustainable biofuels. Therefore, there is a need for ways to verify the sustainability of imported biofuels, so that unsustainable biofuels can be avoided. One strategy may involve analyzing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports (EIRs) conducted for specific biofuel projects. For EIRs to be useful as such information sources they need to be sufficiently comprehensive in relation to the RED but also sufficiently reliable. In this study, 19 biofuel project EIRs are analyzed with respect to how they cover the RED sustainability considerations. In addition, EIA legislation, requirements, quality, and enforcement are discussed to determine not only whether EIRs can be sufficiently comprehensive, but also sufficiently reliable for supporting information to studies intended to assess the sustainability of biofuels, from an RED perspective. Notable differences between EIRs for different types of projects were found. EIRs for projects including both plantation establishment and the construction of a biofuel plant had better RED coverage than EIRs for projects including either the plantations or the biofuel plant. As might be expected, EIAs for “plantation projects” generally leave out features related to biofuel processing, and EIAs for “biofuel plant” projects generally leave out features related to feedstock production. In general, EIA legislation is insufficient and most target countries seem to have rather low potential to enforce legislation. Several additional EIA-related problems need to be overcome in order for EIRs to be regarded as sufficiently reliable information tools.

Feedstock production and conversion to biofuels can affect the local environment in many different ways. Given that biofuels presently mostly are produced from conventional food crops, impacts resemble those characterising the present day agriculture. These depend on the crops produced, the production systems employed, governance conditions, and local environmental conditions. In the main report, production system characteristics and current documented environmental impacts related to e.g. air and water quality and biodiversity – associated with the production of relevant biofuel crops are presented in each country land-use profile

Oil palm is a land efficient feedstock alternative for biodiesel production and can be a very profitable alternative for farmers. In this study, a spatially explicit model is used to: (i) map and quantify areas in Brazil where oil palm establishment for biodiesel production would be profitable (positive net present value, NPV) in different future scenarios; (ii) estimate corresponding biodiesel production volumes and analyze trade-offs between such biodiesel production, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and nature conservation; and (iii) investigate whether pricing of carbon emissions from land use change might help to steer oil palm production away from lands where conversion would bring the largest impacts on biodiversity or ecosystem carbon stocks. The scenarios include oil, coal, and carbon price pathways from the IEA World Energy Outlook and both the present and prospective situations concerning road infrastructure in Brazil. It is found that palm oil production for biodiesel can be profitable (positive NPV) on very large areas; that such production can conflict with greenhouse gas emissions reduction and nature conservation objectives in many places, but also provide opportunities to meet multiple objectives. Depending on scenario, some 65-80 Mha of land could support biodiesel production corresponding to more than 10% of the global diesel demand, without causing any direct land use change emissions and without inflicting on high conservation value areas.

Society faces the double challenge of addressing negative impacts of current land use, while increasing biomass production to meet the future demands for food, materials and bioenergy. Potential impacts of increasing the biomass supply are subject to debate. In the discourse, land use change (LUC) has often been considered as negative, referring to impacts of deforestation and cropland expansion. At the same time, LUC is considered necessary for mitigating impacts of existing land use. Strategic establishment of suitable crop cultivation systems in agricultural landscapes can mitigate environmental impacts of current crop production, while providing biomass for the bioeconomy. Here, we explore the potential for such “beneficial LUC” in EU28, based on high-resolution land use modeling. First, we map and quantify the degree of accumulated soil organic carbon losses, wind and water erosion, nitrogen emissions to water, and recurring flooding, in ~81.000 individual sub-watersheds in EU28. We then estimate the effectiveness in mitigating these impacts through establishment of perennial plants, in each sub-watershed. Finally, we identify areas where perennialization may be particularly beneficial from an environmental point of view. The results indicate that there is a substantial potential for effective mitigation, regarding all the assessed impacts. Depending on criteria selection, some 10-46% of the land used for annual crop production in EU28 is located in landscapes that could be considered priority areas for beneficial LUC. While some recent policy development is favorable for promoting beneficial LUC, the effectiveness could be increased by seeking synergies between climate change mitigation, energy security, and other societal goals. One way forward can be to identify and promote options for biomass production in the context of SDG implementation.

Society faces the double challenge of increasing biomass production to meet the future demands for food, materials and bioenergy, while addressing negative impacts of current (and future) land use. In the discourse, land use change (LUC) has often been considered as negative, referring to impacts of deforestation and expansion of biomass plantations. However, strategic establishment of suitable perennial production systems in agricultural landscapes can mitigate environmental impacts of current crop production, while providing biomass for the bioeconomy. Here, we explore the potential for such “beneficial LUC” in EU28. First, we map and quantify the degree of accumulated soil organic carbon losses, soil loss by wind and water erosion, nitrogen emissions to water, and recurring floods, in ∼81.000 individual landscapes in EU28. We then estimate the effectiveness in mitigating these impacts through establishment of perennial plants, in each landscape. The results indicate that there is a substantial potential for effective impact mitigation. Depending on criteria selection, 10–46% of the land used for annual crop production in EU28 is located in landscapes that could be considered priority areas for beneficial LUC. These areas are scattered all over Europe, but there are notable “hot-spots” where priority areas are concentrated, e.g., large parts of Denmark, western UK, The Po valley in Italy, and the Danube basin. While some policy developments support beneficial LUC, implementation could benefit from attempts to realize synergies between different Sustainable Development Goals, e.g., “Zero hunger”, “Clean water and sanitation”, “Affordable and Clean Energy”, “Climate Action”, and “Life on Land”.

The land sector needs to increase biomass production to meet multiple demands while reducing negative land use impacts and transitioning from being a source to being a sink of carbon. The new Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (CAP) steers towards a more needs-based, targeted approach to addressing multiple environmental and climatic objectives, in coherence with other EU policies. In relation to this, new schemes are developed to offer farmers direct payments to adapt practices beneficial for climate, water, soil, air and biodiversity. Multifunctional biomass production systems have potential to reduce environmental impacts from agriculture while maintaining or increasing biomass production for the bioeconomy across Europe. Here, we present the first attempt to model the deployment of two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across >81.000 landscapes in Europe (EU27 + UK), aiming to quantify the resulting ecosystem services and environmental benefits, considering three deployment scenarios with different incentives for implementation. We found that these multifunctional biomass production systems can reduce N emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, respectively, down to a “low” impact level all over Europe, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, using less than 1% of the area under annual crops in the EU. The GHG emissions savings of utilizing the biomass produced in these systems for replacing fossil alternatives, combined with the increases in soil organic carbon, correspond to 1-1,4% of total GHG emissions in EU28. The introduction of “eco-schemes” in the new CAP may resolve some of the main barriers to implementation of large-scale multifunctional biomass production systems. Increasing the knowledge of these opportunities among all EU member states, before designing and introducing country-specific Eco-scheme options in the new CAP, is critical.

The land sector needs to increase biomass production to meet multiple demands while reducing negative land use impacts and transitioning from being a source to being a sink of carbon. The new Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (CAP) steers towards a more needs-based, targeted approach to addressing multiple environmental and climatic objectives, in coherence with other EU policies. In relation to this, new schemes are developed to offer farmers direct payments to adapt practices beneficial for climate, water, soil, air and biodiversity. Multifunctional biomass production systems have potential to reduce environmental impacts from agriculture while maintaining or increasing biomass production for the bioeconomy across Europe. Here, we present the first attempt to model the deployment of two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across >81.000 landscapes in Europe (EU27 + UK), aiming to quantify the resulting ecosystem services and environmental benefits, considering three deployment scenarios with different incentives for implementation. We found that these multifunctional biomass production systems can reduce N emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, respectively, down to a “low” impact level all over Europe, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, using less than 1% of the area under annual crops in the EU. The GHG emissions savings of utilizing the biomass produced in these systems for replacing fossil alternatives, combined with the increases in soil organic carbon, correspond to 1-1,4% of total GHG emissions in EU28. The introduction of “eco-schemes” in the new CAP may resolve some of the main barriers to implementation of large-scale multifunctional biomass production systems. Increasing the knowledge of these opportunities among all EU member states, before designing and introducing country-specific Eco-scheme options in the new CAP, is critical.

Within the scope of the new Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, in coherence with other EU policies, new incentives are developed for farmers to deploy practices that are beneficial for climate, water, soil, air, and biodiversity. Such practices include establishment of multifunctional biomass production systems, designed to reduce environmental impacts while providing biomass for food, feed, bioenergy, and other biobased products. Here, we model three scenarios of large-scale deployment for two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across over 81,000 landscapes in Europe, and quantify the corresponding areas, biomass output, and environmental benefits. The results show that these systems can effectively reduce nitrogen emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, having limited negative effects on current agricultural production. This kind of beneficial land-use change using strategic perennialization is important for meeting environmental objectives while advancing towards a sustainable bioeconomy.

As the global population increases and becomes more affluent, biomass demands for food and biomaterials will increase. Demand growth is further accelerated by the implementation of climate policies and strategies to replace fossil resources with biomass. There are, however, concerns about the size of the prospective biomass demand and the environmental and social consequences of the corresponding resource mobilization, especially concerning impacts from the associated land-use change. Strategically integrating perennials into landscapes dominated by intensive agriculture can, for example, improve biodiversity, reduce soil erosion and nutrient emissions to water, increase soil carbon, enhance pollination, and avoid or mitigate flooding events. Such ?multifunctional perennial production systems? can thus contribute to improving overall land-use sustainability, while maintaining or increasing overall biomass productivity in the landscape. Seven different cases in different world regions are here reviewed to exemplify and evaluate (a) multifunctional production systems that have been established to meet emerging bioenergy demands, and (b) efforts to identify locations where the establishment of perennial crops will be particularly beneficial. An important barrier towards wider implementation of multifunctional systems is the lack of markets, or policies, compensating producers for enhanced ecosystem services and other environmental benefits. This deficiency is particularly important since prices for fossil-based fuels are low relative to bioenergy production costs. Without such compensation, multifunctional perennial production systems will be unlikely to contribute to the development of a sustainable bioeconomy.

The agricultural sector can contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sequestering atmospheric carbon in vegetation and soils, and by providing biomass for substituting fossil fuels and other GHG intensive products in the energy, industry and transport sectors. New policies at EU level provide incentives for more sustainable land use practices, for example, cultivation systems using perennial plants that provide biomass for food, bioenergy and other biobased products along with land carbon sequestration and other environmental benefits. Based on spatial modelling across more than 81,000 landscapes in Europe, we find that introduction of grass-clover leys into rotations with annual crops could result in soil organic carbon sequestration corresponding to 5-10% of total current GHG emissions from agriculture in EU27+UK, annually until 2050. The combined annual GHG savings from soil carbon sequestration and use of biogas produced in connection to grass-based biorefineries equals 13-48% of current GHG emissions from agriculture. The assessed environmental co-benefits (reduced wind and water erosion, reduced nitrogen emissions to water, and mitigation of impacts associated with flooding) are considerable. Besides policy instruments, new markets for grass biomass, e.g., as feedstock for producing biofuels and protein concentrate, can incentivize widespread deployment of in-rotation grass cultivation.

The agriculture sector can contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, sequestering carbon in vegetation and soils, and providing biomass to substitute for fossil fuels and other GHG intensive products. The sector also needs to address water, soil, and biodiversity impacts caused by historic and current practices. Emerging EU policies create incentives for cultivation of perennial plants that provide biomass along with environmental benefits. One such option, common in northern Europe, is to include grass in rotations with annual crops to provide biomass while remediating soil organic carbon (SOC) losses and other environmental impacts. Here, we apply a spatially explicit model on >81,000 sub-watersheds in EU27+UK (Europe) to explore the effects of widespread deployment of such systems. Based on current accumulated SOC losses in individual sub-watersheds, the model identifies and quantifies suitable areas for increased grass cultivation and corresponding biomass- and protein supply, SOC sequestration, and reductions in nitrogen emissions to water as well as wind and water erosion. The model also provides information about possible flood mitigation. The results indicate a substantial climate mitigation potential, with combined annual GHG savings from soil-carbon sequestration and displacement of natural gas with biogas from grass-based biorefineries, equivalent to 13-48% of current GHG emissions from agriculture in Europe. The environmental co-benefits are also notable, in some cases exceeding the estimated mitigation needs. Yield increases for annual crops in modified rotations mitigate the displacement effect of increasing grass cultivation. If the grass is used as feedstock in lieu of annual crops, the displacement effect can be negative, i.e., a reduced need for annual crop production elsewhere. Incentivizing widespread deployment will require supportive policy measures as well as new uses of grass biomass, e.g., as feedstock for green biorefineries producing protein concentrate, biofuels and other biobased products.

Brazil is home to the largest tracts of tropical vegetation in the world, harbouring high levels of biodiversity and carbon. Several biomass maps have been produced for Brazil, using different approaches and methods, and for different purposes. These maps have been used to estimate historic, recent, and future carbon emissions from land use change (LUC). It can be difficult to determine which map to use for what purpose. The implications of using an unsuitable map can be significant, since the maps have large differences, both in terms of total carbon storage and its spatial distribution. This paper presents comparisons of Brazil's new ‘official’ carbon map; that is, the map used in the third national communication to the UNFCCC in 2016, with the former official map, and four carbon maps from the scientific literature. General strengths and weaknesses of the different maps are identified, including their suitability for different types of studies. No carbon map was found suitable for studies concerned with existing land use/cover (LULC) and LUC outside of existing forests, partly because they do not represent the current LULC sufficiently well, and partly because they generally overestimate carbon values for agricultural land. A new map of aboveground carbon is presented, which was created based on data from existing maps and an up-to-date LULC map. This new map reflects current LULC, has high accuracy and resolution (50 m), and a national coverage. It can be a useful alternative for scientific studies and policy initiatives concerned with existing LULC and LUC outside of existing forests, especially at local scales when high resolution is necessary, and/or outside the Amazon biome. We identify five ongoing climate policy initiatives in Brazil that can benefit from using this map.

Brazil is one of the major contributors to land-use change emissions, mostly driven by agricultural expansion for food, feed and bioenergy feedstock. Policies to avoid deforestation related to private commitments, economic incentives, and other support schemes are expected to improve the effectiveness of current command and control mechanisms increasingly. However, until recently, land tenure was unknown for much of the Brazilian territory, which has undermined the governance of native vegetation and challenged support and incentive mechanisms for avoiding deforestation. We assess the total extent of public governance mechanisms protecting aboveground carbon (AGC) stocks. We constructed a land tenure dataset for the entire nation and modeled the effects and uncertainties of major land-use acts on protecting AGC stocks. Roughly 70% of the AGC stock in Brazil is estimated to be under legal protection, and an additional 20% is expected to be protected after areas in the Amazon with currently undesignated land undergo a tenure regularization. About 30% of the AGC stock is on private land, of which roughly two-thirds are protected. The Cerrado, Amazon and Caatinga biomes hold about 40%, 30% and 20% of the unprotected AGC, respectively. Effective conservation of protected and unprotected carbon will depend on successful implementation of the Forest Act, and regularization of land tenure in the Amazon. Policy development that prioritizes unprotected AGC stocks is warranted to promote conservation of native vegetation beyond the legal requirements. However, different biomes and land tenure structures may require different policy settings considering local and regional specifics. Finally, the fate of current AGC stocks relies upon effective implementation of command and control mechanisms, considering that unprotected AGC in native vegetation on private land only accounts for 6.5% of the total AGC stock.

Brazilian native vegetation stands as one of the largest global carbon storages.  Here is also where most of the emissions related to land use change take place,  mostly driven by agricultural expansion. Policies of incentives and support to  avoid deforestation are expected to play a significant role to improve the  effectiveness of the prevailing command and control regulation and expand the  protection of carbon stocks in the native vegetation. However, the limited  available resources require wise targeting policies that maximise the outcomes  regarding carbon protection. In this study, we conducted a quantitative  assessment of the effect of command and control regulations in the protection of  above-ground carbon (AGC) stocks employing a land use policy assessment (LUPA)  model. The model enabled the construction of a land tenure dataset of national  coverage and modelled the effects of the major pieces of land use legislation in  the protection of AGC stocks. The outcomes suggest that roughly 70% of the AGC  stock in Brazil is protected and additional 20% is expected to be protected  after the tenure regularisation process of undesignated land. Private territory  sustains about 30% of the AGC stocks, half within small or medium sized private  properties which represent 98% of the Brazilian landholders and the other half  in the 2% larger properties. Roughly 20% of the AGC in private land is under  command and control protection, and the remaining 10% is unprotected. We argued  that targeting policy may prioritise the unprotected AGC stocks; however,  different biomes may require different policy settings considering the  specificity of each biome.

The Brazilian Amazon rainforest is protected largely by command and control regulation of public and private land. The Brazilian Forest Act requires private landholders within the Amazon to set aside 80% of their land as legal reserves for nature protection, but this requirement can be reduced to 50% if more than 65% of a state’s territory is protected public land (for example, public conservation units and indigenous reserves). In the ongoing land designation process in Brazil, some Amazonian states may cross this 65% threshold. We assess the potential reduction in the legal reserve requirement from 80% to 50%, through spatially explicit modelling of scenarios concerning land tenure consolidation, employing up-to-date databases on land ownership. Depending on the outcome of land designation processes and political priorities, some 6.5–15.4 million hectares of private land previously protected as legal reserves may become available for legal deforestation. While protection of public land is crucial for safeguarding the Amazon, revisions of federal and state legislation may be needed to avoid the further extension of protected public land triggering increased legal deforestation on private lands. Zero-deforestation commitments and other initiatives may mitigate impacts in the absence of such revision.

The endeavour to align the goals of the Swedish food strategy with the national environmental quality objectives and the 17 global SDGs, presents an extraordinary challenge that calls forsystemic innovation. Industrial symbiosis can potentially provide the means for increasing sustainable food production, using locally subexploited resources that can reduce the need for land, agro-chemicals, transport and energy. This case study of the municipality of Härnösand, aims to assess opportunities and challenges for using waste flows and by-products for local food production, facilitated by industrial symbiosis. A potential symbiotic network was developed during three workshops with the main stakeholders in Härnösand. The potential of the COVID-19 pandemic to instigate policy changes, behavioural changes and formation of new alliances that may catalyse the transition towards food systems based on industrial symbiosis is discussed. The material flow inventory revealed that many under exploited resource flows were present in quantities that rendered them commercially interesting. Resources that can be used for innovative food production include, e.g., lignocellulosic residues, rock dust, and food processing waste. The internalised drive among local companies interested in industrial symbiosis and the emerging symbiotic relations, provide a fertile ground for the establishment of a local network that can process the subexploited material flows. Although there are multiple challenges for an industrial symbiosis network to form in Härnösand, this study shows that there is a significant potential to create added value from the region’s many resources while at the same time making the food system more sustainable and resilient, by expanding industrial symbiosis practices.

Sustainable feedstock supply is a critical issue for the bioenergy sector. One concern is that feedstock production will impact biodiversity. We analyze how this concern is addressed in assessments of biomass supply potentials and in selected governance systems in the EU and Brazil, including the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED), the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the Brazilian Forest Act. The analysis focuses on grasslands and includes estimates of the amount of grassland area (and corresponding biomass production volume) that would be excluded from cultivation in specific biodiversity protection scenarios. The reviewed assessments used a variety of approaches to identify and exclude biodiverse grasslands as unavailable for bioenergy. Because exclusion was integrated with other nature protection considerations, quantification of excluded grassland areas was often not possible. The RED complements and strengthens the CAP in terms of biodiversity protection. Following the RED, an estimated 39%-48% (about 9-11 Mha) and 15%-54% (about 10-38 Mha) of natural and non-natural grassland, respectively, may be considered highly biodiverse in EU-28. The estimated biomass production potential on these areas corresponds to some 1-3 and 1.5-10 EJ/year for natural and non-natural grassland, respectively (depending on area availability and management intensity). However, the RED lacks clear definitions and guidance, creating uncertainty about its influence on grassland availability for bioenergy feedstock production. For Brazil, an estimated 16%-77% (about 16-76 Mha) and 1%-32% (about 7-24 Mha) of natural and non-natural grassland, respectively, may be considered highly biodiverse. In Brazil, ecological-economic zoning was found potentially important for grassland protection. Further clarification of grassland definitions and delineation in regulations will facilitate a better understanding of the prospects for bioenergy feedstock production on grasslands, and the impacts of bioenergy deployment on biodiversity.