Bioenergy and BECCS: The Questions Shape the Answers

How a question is framed often determines the answer — and that holds true for climate research as well. A new international study shows that the methods used to analyze bioenergy and BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) can greatly influence conclusions about their climate impacts. Researchers from several Swedish and international universities, including Chalmers Professor Göran Berndes, now provide guidance on how to make such assessments more consistent and reliable.

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Göran Berndes, Professor of Biomass and Land Use at Chalmers University of Technology, is one of the researchers behind the new study on how the climate impacts of bioenergy and BECCS should be assessed.

Göran Berndes

The design of analytical methods strongly influences the conclusions drawn from studies on how our choices – for example, what we eat and how we commute to work – affect the climate. Studies of bio-based systems and products face particular challenges, as their climate impacts occur through many different mechanisms.

The complexity increases even further when such studies include various technological solutions for carbon capture and storage.

In a new scientific article produced by researchers from several Swedish and international universities, guidance is provided on how to assess climate impacts in the context of bioenergy and BECCS. Among the authors is Göran Berndes, Professor of Biomass and Land Use at Chalmers University of Technology. The study shows that methodological choices have a significant influence on results, and the researchers highlight the need for clear guidelines to enable scientists and decision-makers to compare alternatives in a fair and transparent way.

A recently published fact sheet also explains the differences between biofuels and fossil fuels in terms of their effects on the global carbon cycle. It further describes how bioenergy can help mitigate climate change by limiting the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 

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Göran Berndes

  • Head of Unit, Physical Resource Theory, Envi­ron­men­tal and Energy Sciences
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Bioenergy and BECCS: The Questions Shape the Answers | Chalmers