Objective
There is a clear need to quantify the knock-on effects of bioenergy schemes in rural depressed areas. Bioenergy schemes represent opportunities for European agriculture to diversify into new markets that will create new and additional employment in rural communities. This will also aid in increasing farming incomes and will act as a lever for other investment and contribute to the development of associated commercial and industrial activities. For instance, transport infrastructure and specialist machinery manufacturers will benefit from increased business. This will in turn create additional spending in the community and further add to the knock-on effects.
The objective of this proposal is to develop a quantitative model to analyse the socioeconomic impacts of bioenergy deployment through rural diversification and to measure the distribution of benefits and costs of policy packages, particularly the CAP. The BIOSEM model - Biomass Socio-Economic Multiplier Model, will be a facilitator for the organisation and analysis of already existing data so that the employment and income benefits from bioenergy development and deployment in rural areas can be measured.
The model will simulate the interaction between agricultural crops, biomass production, energy production and other sectors of the economy.
The main aim of this proposal is the development of the BIOSEM model. This will allow:
- the estimation of the direct and indirect knock-on effects on employment, income, local services and government revenue created by various phases of the deployment of bioenergy schemes in the participating European countries;
- the identification of depressed rural areas that would benefit from bioenergy deployment;
- recommendations for CAP policy reform to assist and promote rural diversification through bioenergy schemes.
BIOSEM will assist policy makers to site energy crop production and
processing plants and to identify where to target investment so as to get the highest production response or optimal income distribution effects in all the participating European countries.
BIOSEM will help policy makers identify recommendations for rural policy and CAP reform and assist rural diversification through bioenergy deployment based on the results of BIOSEM model simulations.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CON - Coordination of research actionsCoordinator
OX11 0RA Didcot
United Kingdom