EU Biomass supply, uses, governance and regenerative actions

This report is the fourth comprehensive public report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) entirely dedicated to the topic of biomass. This report also marks the ten-year anniversary of what has come to be known as the JRC Biomass Mandate. In the sections that follow, we quantify biomass supply and use related to forest, agriculture, and marine ecosystems in the European Union. We further address associated waste streams and trade issues. As a novelty in this edition, we discuss the competing requirements for biomass, exacerbated by the different political narratives surrounding bioeconomy, and highlight a need for system’s level assessments to facilitate policy coherence. We propose a wide range of regenerative actions. This report reflects the direct work of JRC scientific staff and their collaborators, bringing together expertise from several units of the organisation, all united by a common focus on biomass.