LIFE BIO-BALANCE project

Funded by EU LIFE Programme Climate Governance and Information, the „Balancing solid biomass for climate neutrality in CEE countries” (LIFE BIO-BALANCE) overall objective is to support EU Member States to shift to a low-carbon and resilient economy by ensuring that solid biomass  is produced and used sustainably at all levels.

Background

Solid biomass is mainly, but not exclusively forestry biomass harvested for energy production. This will be the main focus of the project as well, but will also include sustainability aspect of non-forestry solid biomass, like agricultural residues. The project design was motivated by multiple negative trends which connected to the energy utilization of solid biomass:

Climate change: Forestry biomass affects the climate positively by sequestering carbon, and negatively by producing carbon emissions when burned. The EU own scientific institution, the Joint Research Centre concluded in its report that only the different types of fine woody debris is better in 20 years' perspective in terms of GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels. Also, to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, the strong increase of carbon sequestration is needed. In spite of these, the “Fit for 55” proposal only includes a slightly stronger sustainability criteria, which MSs will need to be transposed. Therefore, stronger national sustainability criteria are needed. This is especially needed for the target countries, where the 2030 climate plans, the National Energy and Climate Plans envisage a higher level of industrial solid biomass use. 

Biodiversity: Higher pressure on forests means also higher pressure on biodiversity. As the WWF Living Planet Report stated, by 2020 the population sizes of mammals and birds decreased by almost 70% since 1970. Since the significant share of the remaining habitat are forests, therefore to prevent and increase their condition would be crucial. Again, the existing and proposed new EU-wide criteria only address the biodiversity issue in a limited scale.

Air pollution: In rural areas, firewood consumption is generally coupled with energy poverty. Regarding the different indicators which capture energy poverty, the target countries are among the most affected member states. For instance, the proportion of inhabitants unable to keep their homes adequately warm in Bulgaria is 34%.

Energy poverty: In rural areas, firewood consumption is generally coupled with energy poverty. Regarding the different indicators which capture energy poverty, the target countries are among the most affected member states. For instance, the proportion of inhabitants unable to keep their homes adequately warm in Bulgaria is 34%.

 

LIFE BIO-BALANCE’s solutions

In order to change these negative trends, the project had different interventions both on national policy and local level:

POLICY-LEVEL ACTIVITIES

Multi-stakeholder working groups: The different policy recommendations we developed were discussed with a wide range of stakeholders. In the three target countries, national “biomass panels” were established. Altogether more than 90 experts participated in 21 workshops. To support the replication of such a working group in other countries, we have developed a “Guideline on creating multi-stakeholder national biomass panels” for international forerunners to engage different stakeholders into expert panels.

Stringent sustainability criteria for solid biomass: Even though the sustainability criteria of solid biomass within the Renewable energy directive was revised in the frame of the Fit for 55 package in 2023, its revision did not address the gaps in the existing safeguarding of solid biomass. As Member States are allowed to introduce stronger sustainability criteria, we developed a Guideline on introducing stronger sustainability criteria, that countries can adopt during the transposition process of the revised directive. For further reference, our Bioenergy and just transition hybrid conference, hold in Sofia in 2022 can be watched back here.

In order to also have better information on the lower-risks feedstock, we assessed the energy potential of non-forestry feedstocks in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania (available only in national languages with an English summary)

Biomass sustainability assessment tool: In order to be able to assess the different levels of sustainability criteria, EAP developed the “SusainEnBio tool” which can be downloaded here. With the built-in user manual of the tool, which can be also downloaded from here,  one can build a series of datasets of the available feedstocks, grouped by the level of associated climate and biodiversity impacts. Secondly, the compliance with current RED III rules and the overall effectiveness of the different feedstock use can be assessed either on industrial site level, or by adding multiple sites on regional or even national level. Even though the sustainability criteria does not cover residential use, the tool is also able to assist municipalities to calculate the different emission values of the residential sector and build scenarios when energy efficiency or increased user- awareness occurs. The webinar which presented the tool itself can be watched back here.

Collection of best practices: Once the impact of stronger sustainability criteria is assessed, the next step is to replace those biomass use which was ruled out by applying the improved safeguards. As a first step, we have collected best practices in the topic of renewables, building energy efficiency and energy poverty from existing NECPs and EU-funded projects. Explore the collection by clicking the following links:
Best practice collection of existing NECP measures
Best practice collection of measures developed by EU-funded projects.

Recommendations for national climate strategies: Based on the collected best practices, and the assessment of the draft revised NECPs, we have developed recommendations for the revision process of the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) and long-term climate strategies (LTS). The recommendations for the three target countries can be assessed through the following links: Bulgarian NECP and LTS (in Bulgarian), Hungarian NECP and LTS, Romanian NECP and LTS. Also, the assessments of the draft version of the updated NECPs of the three target countries can be downloaded via the following links: BG, HU, RO, while the assessment of the existing LTS via these links: BG, HU, RO.
The versions in national languages can be accessed via the national pages, see below.
Our key asks for the NECP revision for the three countries are summarised in factsheets as well (BG, HU, RO versions).
To support the process on an EU-level, we have also developed a general guideline, which can be accessed here. Our webinar on the NECP revision guideline can be watched back here.

LOCAL-LEVEL ACTIVITIES

Supporting residential firewood users in the energy transition: We have created Facebook groups in the target countries for firewood user households, to foster peer-to-peer best practice sharing. From the collected best practices we compiled a report, which brings real-life examples directly linked to the firewood use. We also summarised the key messages of this report in a factsheets on firewood use and energy efficiency. To reach out to the national Facebook groups, please see below the national-level dissemination channels.
Based on the discussion topics in the facebook groups, we developed supporting info sheets to provide additional supports, such as for pellet, briquette and heat pumps. Besides these factsheets in English, many other factsheets, infographs and animation videos were developed for public awareness raising purposes, which can be also accessed through the national dissemination channels below.  We also developed public awareness posters that local authorities can further disseminate.
In addition, we filled important data gaps regarding the residential firewood use in the three target countries by conducting two rounds of household-level surveys. The results from 2022 and 2024 can be accessed via the links.

Where tailor-made solutions are needed: firewood-dependent energy poor communities. First, we have conducted a background report on the status of fuel energy poverty in the three countries, for further information please consult the “Fuel of the poor” report, and summarise the factsheet here. We also conducted survey among local authorities to better understand their view on the effect of the energy crises, local firewood use, and the associated energy poverty and air pollution. The regional synthesis of the results is summarised in this factsheet.
In order to demonstrate and test pilot solutions that can effectively support firewood-dependent local communities, the project provided support for four selected municipalities. The aim was to identify approaches and solutions which can be replicated in other similar municipalities with relatively low investment costs. Altogether we demonstrated and identified 8 such interventions. Our Guidebook on local pilot project: towards the reduction of energy poverty and firewood use describes in detail the interventions and its replication potential. Moreover, the Guideline for local capacity building and multi-stakeholder planning (available through the same link) also helps local authorities and CSOs on how to engage and involve local stakeholders in the replication of the pilot solutions.

The project end is not the end of our efforts

In the EUKI-funded BioJust project, together with Habitat for Humanity, we follow-up our activities connected to the transformation of firewood-dependent communities through continuing pilot interventions on local level, developing guideline for local authorities for local heating action plans, but also focusing on the Social Climate Plans on policy level in order to ensure that the implementation of the future local plans will be supported by sufficient financial resources.
Also, based on our recommendations, during the transposition process of the sustainability criteria of the Renewable energy directive, we will continue our policy advocacy.

Only interested in the main outcomes? Read the LIFE BIO-BALANCE Layman’s Report.

Administrative information

●    Full name of the project: Balancing solid biomass for climate neutrality in CEE countries (LIFE20 GIC/HU/001660)
●    Target countries: Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
●    Project partnership: WWF Hungary (coordinator), Energy Agency of Plovdiv, Habitat for Humanity (HfH) Bulgaria, HfH Hungary, HfH Romania, WWF Bulgaria, WWF Romania
●    Project duration: June /2021 – July 2024 (36 months)
●    Total budget: 1,518,819 €, from which EU contribution is 835,350 € (55%). The project received support under the LIFE Climate Governance and Information call.

Knowledge sharing and Action Hubs 

The knowledge and sharing hubs are a mix of platforms in each of the countries participating in the project. They connect and provide a field for the exchange of knowledge and experience between people with an interest in the topics of energy efficiency, climate change, forest biomass, etc. Hubs are not just for project experts. They are open to anyone who wants to share their personal experience, ask for advice or take an initiative. Being based on already existing platforms, the hubs will continue to exist and engage after the formal end of the project.

Hungary:

WWF-Hungary Social Media platforms:

 

Bulgaria:

WWF-Bulgaria Social Media platforms :

Romania:

WWF-Romania Social Media Platforms: 

 

news and Articles

© Akos Budai

© Laszlo Galhidy/ WWF Hungary

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© WWF-Bulgaria

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© WWF-Hungary

© Adam_Harmat/ WWF-Hungary

© WWF-Bulgaria

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