You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on EU sustainability criteria for bioenergy.

Bioenergy, which is generally produced from plants or trees, is a renewable energy source, but generating and using bioenergy has environmental impact and its benefits are not always that clear.

So the European Commission is pushing for tighter sustainability criteria to ensure that using biofuels and biomass leads to real carbon savings.

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The word bioenergy has become part of her everyday life. Want to hear the story? Stay with us.

The word bioenergy has become part of her everyday language, but what is it exactly?

Well, bioenergy comes in many shapes and forms, but essentially it's a renewable energy source derived from biological sources, mainly forests, agricultural crops and waste.

So wood and other solid biomass can be used to produce heat and electricity and liquid biofuels derived from food or

feed crops can be used to power our city buses. That's why it's such an important part of the

EU's renewable energy mix. Indeed in 2015 it accounted for over 60% of the EU's renewable energy production,

and it's taking an increasingly large share of the market.

But how sustainable is bioenergy really?

While it produces the same amount of carbon dioxide as traditional fossil fuels,

it's considered climate friendly because the carbon emitted during combustion was removed from the atmosphere during the growth of the biomass by the process of photosynthesis.

So by planting new plants, we can keep the process almost carbon neutral.

That's right, almost, but not 100%.

As all other energy sources, the production and use of bioenergy has environmental and socio-economic impacts.

Take land use change, for example.

When land is converted into agricultural land to grow bioenergy crops, it can lead to a loss of biodiversity and changes in its greenhouse gas emissions.

Another problem is the so-called carbon debt, as burning biomass releases carbon dioxide instantly, while repaying that carbon debt through new tree growth may take hundreds of years.

At a socio-economic level, increased demand from biofuel producers for agricultural crops can create new jobs and growth in rural areas, but it could be a double-edged sword, leading to a rise in food prices and contributing to negative practices such as land grabbing in developing countries.

So how do we square this circle?

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