IEA Bioenergy Task 40 – Danish Memebership 2016 - 2018

Danish membership 2016-2018 in IEA Bioenergy Task 40:

The core objective of the Task is: to support the development of sustainable, international markets and international trade of biomass, recognizing the diversity in biomass resources and applications for bioenergy and bio-materials in the biobased economy.

The future vision for global bioenergy trade is that it develops over time into a real 'commodity market'. Investigating the requirements (pre-conditions) for a commoditization of biomass and biofuels will play a central role in this task. It specifically covers (1) an in-depth historical analysis of the developments of existing key commodity markets, e.g., of the energy (e.g., coal) or food/feed sector (e.g., corn), and (2) an exploration of how conditions can be created and enhanced to achieve the same for biomass resources and biofuels.

Based on the first inventory of interests by current task members, four main fields/work packages have been identified:

1. Dedicated market studies.

2. Continued analysis of how sustainable biomass production and trade for bioenergy and the biobased economy can be governed.

3. Making things happen/ stimulate (investments in) trade.

4. Need for high-quality bio-fuels/feedstocks and advanced logistics.

IEA Bioenergy Task 40 was founded in 2004 and is now in its 4th triennium. For the past 11 years, task 40 has monitored the developments in international bioenergy trade, including the organization of about 20 workshops on trade-related topics, and the publication of over 100 studies, country reports, newsletters, etc. The amount of material produced over the years and insights gained in how biomass markets and international trade of biomass and biofuels has developed is impressive.

Besides that the group has produced overviews and insights, also a large amount of practical experience has been brought together in what works and what doesn't. Last but not least, based on all this, there are clear(er) views on how to proceed to build working sustainable international biomass markets in the future.

At present Task 40 is an international network with 12 IEA member countries.: The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Canada is currently not a member of IEA Bioenergy Task 40 but following closely all activities and participating in some of the tasks such as regular updates of bioenergy country reports. Japan, South Korea and South Africa have expressed interest and are discussing to join the task

The Danish Technological Institute (DTI) will continue to represent Danish interests in this task and distribute knowledge and information from the task activities into the Danish market. Developments on the biomass markets and global biomass trade are important for Danish heat and power suppliers due to their great dependence on biomass import from outside Denmark. DTI’s memebership in Task 40 is therefore supported by major Danish biomass users i.e. DONG, Verdo and Hofor, who have been interested and actively involved in Taks 40 in the previous triennium.