Press Release
UN Sustainable Energy for All Announces Global Bioenergy Initiative

UN FAO, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Carbon War Room, KLM, Novozymes and the UN Foundation partner to scale up the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy solutions.

As part of the 2nd Annual Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Forum taking place at United Nations Headquarters this week, a new multi-stakeholder coalition, co-chaired by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), announced its intention to speed up the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy in order to contribute to meeting the SE4ALL goals of doubling the global use of renewable energy and ensuring universal energy access by 2030.

Among its key goals is delivering bioenergy options that are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable, with a focus on emerging markets and rural communities in developing countries. Supported by Novozymes, the world’s largest technology provider to biofuel industries, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), FAO and RSB are co-chairing the sustainable bioenergy effort.

“With this initiative, we help bring together a diverse range of global frontrunners to advance the development and use of sustainable bioenergy in countries where the environmental and socio-economic benefits are greatest,” says Thomas Videbæk, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development at Novozymes. “It is a unique chance to involve governments, industry, financial institutions, academia, and civil society to identify opportunities where action on sustainable bioenergy can be accelerated.”

Multi-stakeholder collaboration to cut risk, unlock opportunity

Sustainable bioenergy is energy and fuels derived from renewable sources, which utilize sustainably-sourced feedstock and take account of relevant national or regional circumstances. Although sustainable bioenergy solutions present many opportunities, and are available for large-scale deployment, their roll-out has been hampered by the lack of regulatory and political certainties, stakeholder awareness, and inadequate financing options. It is clear that dismantling risks and bringing projects and solutions to market require political will, adequate funding, and a multi-stakeholder collaboration.

The founding partners are currently seeking additional stakeholders from governments, industry, financial institutions, academia, and civil society to join the global initiative on sustainable bioenergy.

Please see the website of SE4ALL for the complete announcement.