Government launches bioenergy strategy

On Thursday 26 April the UK bioenergy strategy was published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Transport. The strategy is a response to the Committee on Climate Change's Bioenergy Review and aims to inform policy decisions on electricity, heat and transport. Between April 2011 and February 2012 industry has announced investments totalling over £1.75bn for UK biomass projects, but the government wants to see bioenergy proving 11% of the UK's total primary energy demand by 2020. Energy minister Charles Hendry said the report contained four key principles: bioenergy "must offer genuine carbon savings to 2050 and beyond"; it must be "cost-effective" in meeting energy and climate change objectives; it must consider the needs of the wider bio-economy; and it "must be ready to respond to any risks to key priorities such as food security and biodiversity".
DECC