European Technology and Innovation Platform Bioenergy - Support of Renewable Fuels and Advanced Bioenergy Stakeholders 2

Project Information

ETIP-B-SABS 2

Grant agreement ID: 825179

DOI

10.3030/825179

Project closed

EC signature date 23 August 2018

Start date 1 September 2018

End date 31 December 2021

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 997 720,00

EU contribution

€ 997 720,00

Coordinated by

FACHAGENTUR NACHWACHSENDE ROHSTOFFE EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ETIP-B-SABS 2 (European Technology and Innovation Platform Bioenergy - Support of Renewable Fuels and Advanced Bioenergy Stakeholders 2)

Reporting period: 2020-03-01 to 2021-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

A major share of renewable heat, electricity and transport energy in the European Union is provided by bioenergy. With ambitious European and global energy and climate targets until 2030 and 2050, the importance of reducing the role of fossil carbon in the energy system will further increase in the coming decades. Other renewable energies such as wind and PV have gained a lot of momentum for electricity production, thus also entering the transport sector via electric vehicles. But certain parts of the transport sector such as long haul heavy duty road transport, aviation and maritime will have to rely on the existing engines and turbines for the next decades, and biofuels are the only renewable energy carrier with immediate impact in the whole transport vehicle fleet.

The mission of the European Technology and Innovation Platform Bioenergy (ETIP Bioenergy) is to contribute to the development of cost-competitive, innovative world-class bioenergy and biofuels value chains, to the creation and strengthening of a healthy European bioenergy industry and to accelerate the sustainable deployment of bioenergy in the European Union through a process of guidance, prioritisation and promotion of research, technology development and demonstration.
The objective of the ETIP Bioenergy-SABS 2 project was to provide support to all activities of the ETIP Bioenergy, which are of interest to the bioenergy, advanced biofuels and renewable fuels community and for the general public, to actively engage with the sector's stakeholders and link their needs to policy making of the European Commission. This includes information about technological, market, political, regulatory and financial developments and deployment activities such as the set-up and operation of pilot and demonstration facilities and surrounding research. The advancement of the SET Plan objectives as well as the implementation of the ETIP Bioenergy Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) were major foci in the work programme of the project.

Specific objectives were to facilitate the following activities of the ETIP Bioenergy:
- contributions to the SET Plan activities, in particular Key Action 8 "Renewable Fuels and Bioenergy";
- collaboration and interaction with other relevant initiatives addressing renewable fuels, decarbonisation of transport, bioenergy and biomass valorisation/bio-based value chains;
- engagement with stakeholders as to better understand the actor perspective and the socio-technical aspects of technology development and implementation with a special focus on support for outreach and engagement of actors in the civil society;
- assistance to the European Commission and Member States in defining research programmes, financial instruments, while addressing lower TRL research needs as well as advancing close to market technologies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project ETIP-B-SABS 2 supported the ETIP Bioenergy to engage with stakeholders from the bioenergy sector and to link their needs to policy making of the European Commission. ETIP-B-SABS 2 highlighted the key elements of the Implementation Plan for Action 8 of the SET-Plan since the start of the project. The project supported the ETIP Bioenergy as the industry led, R&I oriented platform in the renewable fuel and bioenergy universe. The team of the ETIP-B-SABS 2 project initiated discussions and interaction between stakeholders and working groups of the ETIP Bioenergy on 'hot topics' related to the accelerated deployment of the most promising value chains for bioenergy, advanced biofuels and renewable fuels technologies. Informing debates with scientifically correct, unbiased information served to stakeholders to get policy, legal framework and technical support to their investment strategies in the near future. A key instrument to achieve this aim was the ETIP Bioenergy website with all the useful resources as factsheets, reports, newsletters, videos on interviews by experts and narrative videos.

The project activities since March 2020 were strongly influenced by the impact of the COV-19 pandemic, resulting in solely virtual meetings, workshops and conferences in the second half of the project. Important events that were organised comprise the 10th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting (SPM), the series of five online workshops entitled “REDII Implementation and Beyond”, organised by ETIP Bioenergy, IEA Bioenergy and the Sustainable Biomass Program as well as two seminars on the climate impact of bioenergy organised jointly by ETIP Bioenergy, IEA Bioenergy and Renewable transportation fuels and systems, a collaborative research program financed by the Swedish Energy Agency and f3 Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels. Further important events that were the 13 online workshops of the four WGs in the second project period, covering the topics biomass availability, conversion, end use, policy & sustainability.

A constant provision of scientifically sound, unbiased, up-to-date information on renewable fuels and the bioenergy sector has been implemented via constant and regular updates of the ETIP Bioenergy website, the creation of new website sections, the development of a status report on advanced biofuel demonstrations in Europe, review articles as well as user guides related to the search for patents, publications and research projects. ETIP Bioenergy provided input to relevant stakeholder consultations and in expert groups. The extended Steering Committee meetings (together with the Advisory Board) were a central instrument to intensify the exchange with Member States.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project ETIP-B-SABS 2 successfully supported the ETIP Bioenergy to engage with stakeholders from the bioenergy sector and to link their needs to policy making of the European Commission. The project has supported ETIP Bioenergy’s interaction with relevant initiatives, such as EERA Bioenergy, IEA Bioenergy, Bioenergy Europe or the Sustainable Biomass Program. The continuation of the implementation of Action 8 of the SET-Plan, Renewable Fuels and Bioenergy (IP8), was an important activity througout the entire project's lifetime.

To strengthen the dialogue between ETIP Bioenergy and the civil society, e.g. NGOs, regional citizen organisations and consumers, several online workshops and meetings were held in the second project half. The aim was to ensure that research and development activities meet societal expectations and acceptance. The participants of the 10th SPM were a good mix of the different stakeholder groups represented in ETIP Bioenergy. The latest trends in advanced bioenergy technologies were presented during the three-day event. Broadening the biomass feedstock base in Europe was akey topic, which deemed relevant, among others, for civil society actors. The series of five online workshops entitled “REDII Implementation and Beyond” succeeded to reach key stakeholders and contribute to the dialogue on how sustainable biomass is defined, what REDII implementation looks like in practice and how to ensure biomass is supplied and used in a way that contributes to climate goals. The two f3 seminars presented current research on the climate impact of bioenergy with the aim of broadening and deepening the knowledge base for the ongoing debate. The fully virtual meetings since March 2020 decreased networking opportunities; however the barriers to join a meeting were lower, resulting in a substantialy better attendance of SPM and workshops.

ETIP Bioenergy - 9th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting

ETIP Bioenergy - 10th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting

ETIP Bioenergy - Innovation Fund Workshop