International Bioenergy Trade

The trade of global bioenergy commodities, such as ethanol, biodiesel and wood pellets has been growing exponentially in the past decade, and have by 2013 reached true “commodity” volumes, i.e. tens of millions of tonnes traded each year, and billions (both in US$/€) of annual turnover. 

IEA Bioenergy Task 40 was founded in 2004 and is now in its 4^th triennium. For the past 9 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. This book compiles those lessons and insights into an easily accessible book publication.

Martin Junginger (1976) is Assistant Professor at Energy and Resources, (E&R) of the Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University. Martin has a background in chemistry and environmental science, and a PHD in energy science. Since 2005, he has mainly been working on sustainable international bioenergy production and trade.  He is joint leader of IEA Bioenergy Task 40 on Sustainable International Bioenergy Trade (see www.bioenergytrade.org), and currently works amongst others on charting international trade in biomass and biofuels, (with a special focus on solid biomass), and identifying barriers and opportunities for bioenergy trade. He also has been working on sustainability criteria for biomass and certification systems, and carbon accounting for forest biomass. Martin has organized a number of scientific  workshops (in the Netherlands and abroad) and has given numerous presentations and lectures, amongst others in Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the US, and more than 10 European countries. He is actively teaching, and supervisor of several PhD and MSc students. He (co-) published over 40 titles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and is reviewer for a variety of journals, scientific and governmental bodies.

Chun Sheng Goh (1985) works as a researcher at the Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Previously he worked on pretreatment of oil palm biomass, biomass availability and development of bioenergy in Southeast Asia as a M.Sc. student at Universiti Sains Malaysia. He also spent 3 months at Université Henri Poincaré in France as a visiting researcher. In 2011, he won the Australian Endeavour Research Award that allowed him to carry out a 6-months practicum at University of New South Wales in Australia. Since August 2011, he started his work as a junior researcher at Utrecht University in the area of sustainable biomass and bioenergy trade. He is also Task Assistant of IEABioenergy Task 40 and responsible for coordinating and supporting task activities. Up to 2012, he has published 11 papers in peer-reviewed journals of Elsevier and Wiley.

André P.C. Faaij (1969) is appointed as Professor ‘Energy System Analysis’ since end of 2008 and head of the Energy & Resources Unit (some 60 staff) at the Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development of the Utrecht University since the start of 2012. He has a background in chemistry and environmental sciences and holds a Ph.D. on energy production from biomass and wastes. He coordinates a research unit on Energy & Resources, covering biobased economy, sustainable use of fossil fuels, intermittent energy sources and energy system studies and modelling. External evaluations qualified this research as Very Good – Excellent’ with respect to ‘Productivity, Quality, Viability and Societal Relevance’, showing strong international leadership in its’ core areas as Bio-energy and Carbon Capture and Storage. He is a member of a variety of expert groups in bio-energy and energy policy, research and strategic planning. He works as an advisor for governments, the EC, IEA, the UN system, GEF, OECD, WEF, the energy sector & industry, strategic consultancy, NGO’s, etc. Between 2004 and 2012 he was Task Leader of IEA Bioenergy Task 40. He is an advisor to UN bioenergy activities (UNEP, FAO, UNIDO) and Global Bio-energy Partnership. In 2008, he joined the IPCC team as Convening Lead Author to draft the Special Report on Renewable Energy as well as the new Global Energy Assessment (GEA). Currently, he is Lead Author on Energy Systems for the IPCC 5th assessment report. He is appointed Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and a member of the Global Agenda Council on Alternative Energies for the same organisation. He published over 600 titles in scientific journals, reports, books and proceedings, qualifies as ‘highly cited scientist’ (top 1% ofresearch field, (co-) organized a range of international workshops and conferences and is frequently lecturing across the globe.