IEA Bioenergy: Biofuels in Emerging Markets of Africa and Asia - An overview of costs and greenhouse gas savings | 2024

Background

IEA Bioenergy Task 39 published a report titled “Biofuels in Emerging Markets of Africa and Asia" highlighting the critical potential of biofuels in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report focuses on emerging markets in the following countries: China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand. These countries are considered as emerging markets experiencing rapid social and economical developments which comes with an expected rise ofGHG emissions. Biofuels emerge as an interesting solution to reduce these GHG emissions. The study focuses on exploring the potential GHG savings of sustainably produced biofuels, the impact of biofuels on the final cost at the fuel pump and the capacity of biofuel production considering lans use demand.

Main findings

• Life cycle assessment demonstrates that biofuels produced in Africa and Asia can achieve substantial GHG emissions reduction, up to 78% for biodiesel and 81%for ethanol compared to conventional fuels.
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• GHG benefits should be leveraged by replacing fossil fuels with biodiesels especially in circumstances where electrification is difficult or only a longer-term options.
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• Countries should create and enforce policies to avoid agricultural activities including bioenergy crops to expand into high carbon stock areas to ensure that GHG savings are not counteracted by direct or indirect land use change effects.
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• The implementation of flex fuel technology allows users to shift from fossil to biofuels seamlessly and is a reliable alternative to ease the energy transition where installation of charging infrastructure for battery electric vehicle may be challenging.
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• Biofuels are economically feasible in most countries expect for China and Malaysia. Despite this, they could still find a place through strategic imports or subsidy policies related to biofuel blending mandates.
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• India, Indonesia, and South Africa emerge as key beneficiaries, given the low carbon intensity of their biofuels and sulphur-related concerns mostly for diesel in Indonesia.
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• Potential pressures for land use in China and Malaysia could be addressed through international partnerships with countries that have better land availabilityf or energy crop production such as Brazil and the United States.

Key recommendations

• Restricting coal use (particularly in South Africa for the production of synthetic fuels and coal-based ammonia) and stimulating international biofuel trade as fossil fuel alternatives.
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• Country specific comparisons of biofuels and electric vehicles should be considered, emphasizing the importance of biofuels in markets with high carbon intensive electricity.
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• Creation of a policy schemes (similar to the Renewable Fuel Standard in the United States and the RenovaBio program in Bazil) to incentivise and reward low carbon intensity biofuel production.

Download

Read the full report by downloading it on the right hand side or clicking here.

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