Land use for bioenergy: Synergies and trade-offs between sustainable development goals
Review article, 2022
Bioenergy aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to meeting global climate change mitigation targets. Nevertheless, several sustainability concerns are associated with bioenergy, especially related to the impacts of using land for dedicated energy crop production. Cultivating energy crops can result in synergies or trade-offs between GHG emission reductions and other sustainability effects depending on context-specific conditions. Using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, the main synergies and trade-offs associated with land use for dedicated energy crop production were identified. Furthermore, the context-specific conditions (i.e., biomass feedstock, previous land use, climate, soil type and agricultural management) which affect those synergies and trade-offs were also identified. The most recent literature was reviewed and a pairwise comparison between GHG emission reduction (SDG 13) and other SDGs was carried out. A total of 427 observations were classified as either synergy (170), trade-off (176), or no effect (81). Most synergies with environmentally-related SDGs, such as water quality and biodiversity conservation, were observed when perennial crops were produced on arable land, pasture or marginal land in the ‘cool temperate moist’ climate zone and ‘high activity clay’ soils. Most trade-offs were related to food security and water availability. Previous land use and feedstock type are more impactful in determining synergies and trade-offs than climatic zone and soil type. This study highlights the importance of considering context-specific conditions in evaluating synergies and trade-offs and their relevance for developing appropriate policies and practices to meet worldwide demand for bioenergy in a sustainable manner.
Biomass
Sustainable development goals
Land use change
Energy crops
Socio-economic impacts
Environmental impacts
Co-benefits
Author
Ivan Vera
Utrecht University
Birka Wicke
Utrecht University
P. Lamers
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Annette Cowie
University of New England
Anna Repo
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)
Bas Heukels
Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland
Colleen R. Zumpf
Argonne National Laboratory
David Styles
University of Limerick
E. S. Parish
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
F. Cherubini
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Göran Berndes
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Physical Resource Theory
Henriette Jager
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Luis Schiesari
University of Sao Paulo (USP)
Martin Junginger
Utrecht University
M. Brandao
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
N. S. Bentsen
University of Copenhagen
Vassilis Daioglou
Utrecht University
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Zoe M. Harris
Imperial College London
University of Surrey
Floor Van Der Hilst
Utrecht University
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
1364-0321 (ISSN) 18790690 (eISSN)
Vol. 161 112409Subject Categories
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Agricultural Science
Environmental Sciences
DOI
10.1016/j.rser.2022.112409