Publication:
Second Generation Bioenergy Potential

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2010
ISSN
Published
2010
Editor(s)
Abstract
It is widely believed that bioenergy will contribute significantly to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, higher energy security, and stimulate rural development. On the other hand, competition with food production for land and water as well as carbon and biodiversity losses due to the large-scale removal of natural vegetation for biomass plantations are among the most important arguments raised against any further expansion of the bioenergy sector. Recent analyses of first generation biofuels that are based primarily on food and oil crops revealed that they cannot contribute substantially to necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and are partly responsible for increases in food prices. Modern bioenergy systems based on cellulosic plant materials are expected to resolve most of these negative effects. Their absolute potential at the global scale, however, is still unclear. In any case, dedicated plantations of energy crops are expected to cover most of the world's biomass demand in the future. This study combines simulated biomass potentials from a process-based model of the terrestrial biosphere, including human land use with four scenarios of sustainable land-use change to estimate the global bioenergy potential from cellulosic biomass plantations.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Beringer, Tim; Luchton, Wolfgang. 2010. Second Generation Bioenergy Potential. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9202 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Competition for Land between Food, Bioenergy and Conservation
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010) Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Popp, Alexander; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Krause, Michael
    Increased future demands for food, fiber and fuels from biomass can only be met if the available land and water resources on a global scale are used and managed as efficiently as possible. The main routes for making the global agricultural system more productive are through intensification and technological change on currently used agricultural land, land expansion into currently non-agricultural areas, and international trade in agricultural commodities and processed goods. In order to analyze the trade-offs and synergies between these options, the authors have developed the global bio-economic model MAgPIE with a special focus on spatially explicit land and water constraints as well as technological change in agricultural production.
  • Publication
    "Revenue Management" Effects Related to Financial Flows Generated by Climate Policy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010) Strand, Jon
    This paper discusses possible macroeconomic implications for low-income countries of increased revenue inflows that may follow from implementing certain global greenhouse gas mitigation policies. Such revenue sources include revenue from emissions offset mechanisms, direct investments, and financial transfers that form parts of possible future mitigation treaties. In the short run such revenue will come mainly from offset markets and donor-sponsored programs, with some additional financial inflows due to foreign direct investments. In the longer run, comprehensive global cap-and-trade or carbon tax schemes could provide a potentially much larger revenue flow to many low-income countries. The author argues that the macroeconomic implications of such flows are manageable in the short run, but the larger revenues resulting from global emissions schemes could overwhelm this capacity and lead to a number of potential macroeconomic management problems.
  • Publication
    Climate Change Impacts on Agricultural Water Stress and Impact Mitigation Potential
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010) Gerten, Dieter; Rost, Stefanie
    Food production is strongly water-limited in many regions, reflecting the fact that under dry conditions the amount of water in the soil is not sufficient to sustain optimal plant growth. This paper provides a geographically explicit quantification of a) the current (1971-2000 average) blue and green water consumption in global agriculture; b) the current and possible future (2041-2070 average) water limitations to crop production; and c) the potential to mitigate this limitation through rainwater harvesting and vapor shift management strategies.
  • Publication
    Afghanistan Public Expenditure Review 2010 : Second Generation of Public Expenditure Reforms
    (World Bank, 2010-04-01) World Bank
    Afghanistan and its donor community face a dilemma that is critical to the country's sustained development: how to channel more foreign assistance through the government's budgetary system (i.e., core budget) in the face of a huge capacity gap to ensure effective administration of such expenditures. Without more money on budget, national objectives such as poverty reduction and the building of a stable state cannot be fully realized. Currently, 90 percent of the national budget' is externally financed. Overall aid in 2008-09 amounted to US$5.5 billion or 47 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The critical issue, however, is not so much the amount of aid, but weaknesses in its mode of delivery and impact. Three quarters of the aid bypasses the government's own budget system, moving through what is known as the 'external budget'. This dual budgetary system means that most economic activity in Afghanistan takes place outside the government's fiscal control, thus undermining the government's legitimacy and relevance to the Afghan people and weakening the budget's primacy as the tool of national policy. The aid needs to be on-budget and aligned with Afghan priorities. If the success of aid can be gauged by the extent to which it enables a recipient country to free itself of the need for that aid, then the Afghanistan foreign assistance program, as currently structured, is failing its mission. Afghanistan's fiscal sustainability, after having risen to a plateau in recent years, regressed in 2008-09 due to rising operating expenditures, mainly for security, and the country remains one of the world's most aid-dependent.
  • Publication
    What is the Social Value of Second-Generation Biofuels?
    (World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-12) Hertel, Thomas W.; Steinbuks, Jevgenijs; Tyner, Wallace E.
    What is second-generation biofuel technology worth to global society? A dynamic, computable partial equilibrium model (called FABLE) is used to assess changes in global land use for crops, livestock, biofuels, forestry, and environmental services, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, with and without second-generation biofuels technology. The difference in the discounted stream of global valuations of land-based goods and services gives the value of second-generation technology to society. Under baseline conditions, this to amounts to $64.2 billion at today's population or an increase of roughly 0.3 percent in the valuation of the world's land resources. This gain arises despite the fact that, in the baseline scenario, the technology does not become commercially viable until 2035. Alternative scenarios considered include: diminished crop yield growth owing to adverse climate impacts, flat energy prices, low economic growth, and high population growth, as well as greenhouse gas regulation. The most important factor driving second-generation valuation is greenhouse gas regulation, which more than doubles the social value of this technology. Flat energy prices essentially eliminate the value of second-generation technology to society, and high population growth reduces its value because of the heightened competition for land for food production.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    MIGA Annual Report 2021
    (Washington, DC: Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, 2021-10-01) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
    In FY21, MIGA issued 5.2 billion US Dollars in new guarantees across 40 projects. These projects are expected to provide 784,000 people with new or improved electricity service, create over 14,000 jobs, generate over 362 million US Dollars in taxes for the host countries, and enable about 1.3 billion US Dollars in loans to businesses—critical as countries around the world work to keep their economies afloat. Of the 40 projects supported during FY21, 85 percent addressed at least one of the strategic priority areas, namely, IDA-eligible countries (lower-income), fragile and conflict affected situations (FCS), and climate finance. As of June 2021, MIGA has also issued 5.6 billion US Dollars of guarantees through our COVID-19 Response Program and anticipate an expansion to 10–12 billion US Dollars over the coming years, a testament to the countercyclical role that MIGA can play in mobilizing private investment in the face of the pandemic. A member of the World Bank Group, MIGA is committed to strong development impact and promoting projects that are economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. MIGA helps investors mitigate the risks of restrictions on currency conversion and transfer, breach of contract by governments, expropriation, and war and civil disturbance, as well as offering credit enhancement on sovereign obligations.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Business Ready 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03) World Bank
    Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.