Bioenergy is the conversion of biomass - such as agricultural and forest by-products and residues, organic municipal waste, energy crops, algae, biological CO₂ - into useful energy carriers including heat, electricity and transport fuels.

Bioenergy is the main source of renewable energy in the EU, with a share of almost 60%.

The EU has leadership in bioenergy technologies, but deployment remains limited.

Challenges 

• improving the technology in terms of efficiency and cost reduction
• developing reliable, integrated bioenergy supply chains from feedstock cultivation, harvesting, transport, storage to conversion into heat, electricity and transport fuels
• integrating bioenergy in the overall energy system

Opportunities

• bioenergy and biofuels are essential for both energy use and as energy carriers
• the market for advanced biofuels is growing because of their large renewable energy density
• because they are compatible with existing engines, drop-in biofuels are the only deployable solution for replacing petroleum in transport in the mid-term, and in sectors like aviation and shipping in the long-term as well
• research and innovation can improve the cost, performance, and sustainability needed to make bioenergy competitive

Research focuses on

• technology improvement and diversification
• feedstock diversification
• modernising and improving efficiency of biomass based heat and power co-generation
• market uptake measures for all technologies, in particular aviation, shipping and heavy duty road
• breakthrough research and market-creating innovation (e.g. bionic leaf technology)
• coordinating EU research and innovation funding and risk financing to boost commercialisation
• integration of bioenergy in the overall energy system
• international cooperation to tackle global societal challenges