20 October 2015: Government representatives and high-level experts from academia, civil society and the private sector recently discussed the amount of bioenergy in the energy-mix that is required to satisfy growing energy demands, while at the same time contributing to decarbonizing the global economy and ensuring sustainable development.

The conference, titled ‘Bioenergy and development: The investment case for sustainable production systems,’ was organized by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) of the CGIAR Consortium and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) ahead of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC.

Noting the existence of both positive and negative ways of exploiting biological sources of energy, participants identified key factors for the successful development of bioenergy: pursuing inclusive and participatory approaches for aligning sustainable energy policies with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 on energy; careful consideration of the national and local contexts in identifying the optimal bioenergy solutions under different circumstances; meeting essential requirements for good governance, such as the right to adequate food, responsible land governance, and explicit considerations of the impact on all SDGs and on ecosystems and their functions; integrating bioenergy policies into national sustainable development policies and plans; identifying opportunities for scaling up sustainable bioenergy; ensuring effective monitoring, research and information sharing; and taking into consideration the needs of vulnerable groups.

Conference participants urged governments and the private sector to invest in renewable energy to replace fossil fuels with sustainable alternatives. They further encouraged greater investment in research to increase and diversify knowledge of bioenergy. The event took place from 19-20 October 2015, in Berlin, Germany. [Co-Chairs’ Statement] [Meeting Website]