Energy and Climate Change written question – answered at on 4 March 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to reduce the negative externalities of biomass.
The UK Bioenergy Strategy was jointly published in April 2012 by DECC, DEFRA and the Department for Transport. This sets out key principles to steer a sustainable course including that biomass used for energy generation—across the heat, electricity and transport sectors—must deliver real, cost-effective greenhouse gas savings. Support for bioenergy should also aim to maximise the overall benefits and minimise costs, including managing possible impacts on food security and biodiversity.
We are bringing in robust sustainability criteria for the use of biomass under the renewable heat incentive and the renewables obligation. These criteria will include a minimum greenhouse gas savings target compared to fossil fuel use, and criteria to protect land with high carbon stock or biodiversity value.
The UK Bioenergy Strategy, its underpinning research and details of our biomass sustainability criteria proposals are available from the
www.gov.uk website.
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