Bioenergy contributes significantly towards the share of renewable energies, in Europe and worldwide. Besides solid and liquid biofuels, gaseous biofuels, such as biogas or upgraded biogas (biomethane), are an established renewable fuel in Europe. Although many studies consider biomethane technologies, feedstock potentials, or sustainability issues, the literature on the required legislative framework for market introduction is limited. Therefore, this research aims at identifying the market and legislative framework conditions in the three leading biomethane markets in Europe and compare them to the framework conditions of the top six non-European biomethane markets. This study shows the global status and national differences in promoting this renewable energy carrier. For the cross-country comparison, a systematic and iterative literature review is conducted. The results show the top three European biomethane markets (Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden) and the six non-European biomethane markets (Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States of America), pursuing different promotion approaches and framework conditions. Noteworthy cross-national findings are the role of state-level incentives, the tendency to utilise biomethane as vehicular fuel and the focus on residues and waste as feedstock for biomethane production. Presenting a cross-country comparison, this study supports cross-country learning for the promotion of renewable energies like biomethane and gives a pertinent overview of the work.

Increasing recognition and importance is being given to regions for their role in supporting Europe’s transformation towards a sustainable and circular bioeconomy system. Regions are often feedstock producers and can provide the proximity of regional actors along the value chain. If supported and mobilized, actors can coordinate strategic paths for regional bioeconomy development and keep value added in the region. Regional bioeconomy strategies are an important instrument to reach such a process, which implies great efforts of coordination among relevant stakeholders. In this research, we developed a guideline to establish flexible dynamic bioeconomy platforms—Regional Bioeconomy Hubs (RBHs)—that bring together bioeconomy-related stakeholders from policy, academia, industry, and society in a structured procedure (quadruple-helix context) and to establish regional bioeconomy strategies. The guideline was applied to five Central and Eastern European regions and validated in the framework of the POWER4BIO project. As a result, all regions successfully applied the guideline, established their RBH, and developed a regional bioeconomy strategy or recommendations for the development of such a strategy.

The energy system in the Region of Aysén, Chile, is characterized by a strong dependence on fossil fuels, which account for up to 51% of the installed capacity. Although the implementation of waste-to-energy concepts in municipal waste management systems could support the establishment of a more fossil-independent energy system for the region, previous studies have concluded that energy recovery systems are not suitable from an economic perspective in Chile. Therefore, this work intends to evaluate these technical options from an environmental perspective, using life cycle assessment as a tool for a comparative analysis, considering Coyhaique city as a case study. Three technical alternatives were evaluated: (i) landfill gas recovery and flaring without energy recovery; (ii) landfill gas recovery and energy use; and (iii) the implementation of an anaerobic digestion system for the organic waste fraction coupled with energy recovery from the biogas produced. Mass and energy balances of the three analyzed alternatives have been modeled. The comparative LCA considered global warming potential, abiotic depletion and ozone layer depletion as impact categories, as well as required raw energy and produced energy as comparative regional-specific indicators. According to the results, the use of the recovered landfill gas as an energy source can be identified as the most environmentally appropriate solution for Coyhaique, especially when taking into consideration the global impact categories.

A future bioeconomy pursues the transformation of the resource base from fossil to renewable materials in an effort to develop a holistic, sustainable production and provision system. While the significance of this change in the German context is not yet entirely explored, scenarios analysing possible pathways could support the understanding of these changes and their systemic implications. Bioeconomy in detail depends on respective framework conditions, such as the availability of biomass or technological research priorities. Thus, for scenario creation, transferable methods for flexible input settings are needed. Addressing this issue, the study identifies relevant bioeconomy scenario drivers. With the theoretical approach of narrative analysis, 92 statements of the German National Bioeconomy Strategy 2020 have been evaluated and 21 international studies in a STEEPLE framework were assessed. For a future German bioeconomy 19 important drivers could be determined and specific aspects of the resource base, production processes and products as well as overarching issues were exploratively characterised on a quantitative and qualitative basis. The developed method demonstrate an approach for a transparent scenario driver identification that is applicable to other strategy papers. The results illustrate a possible future German bioeconomy that is resource- and technology-driven by following a value-based objective, and which is supplied by biogenic residue and side product feedstocks. As such, the bioeconomy scenario drivers can be used as a starting point for future research like scenario development or modelling of a future German bioeconomy.

This article presents the definition, building, calibration and application of a system dynamics simulation model to quantify the present and future comparative advantages and disadvantages of using forest and agricultural residual biomass for energetic purpose through different processes and technologies, on a regional basis. A dynamic structure of the agricultural and forestry biomass process activities (i.e. production, transport, conversion and consumption) based on regional time-series data was built, implemented into and calibrated within a dynamic simulation tool (Vensim software) within a Hungarian county. Besides the agriculture and forestry sectors, the model includes data about demography, economy, environment and land use, among others. For carrying out the assessment, realistic scenarios of future biomass processes and of biomass use were formulated, characterised by quantitative sustainable development indicators and simulated within the dynamic model. The results prove that the introduced model supports decision making of biomass utilisation in a regional scale, through comparing and analysing quantitative changes of economic, social and environment indicators, which characterise a sustainable regional development. The model therefore allows analyses and evaluation of not only partial prosperous or adverse characteristics of biomass processes and use, but also to relate regional components and their development over time. The developed dynamic tool is therefore a powerful method to model complex systems, such as a regional energy system, considering the framework of the regional preferences stated by the regional stakeholders. It can thus provide useful decision support, especially when used as a priority-based screening of potential regional development programmes in the energy field.