Transnational legal processes, the EU and RED II: Strengthening the global governance of bioenergy

• Date: 01 April 2020
• Published date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12315
• Author: Emily Webster

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  RECIEL. 2020;29:86–94.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

1 | INTRODUCTION

The global resp onse to climate change re quires the transit ion to a

low-carbon eco nomy through drast ically reducing g reenhouse gas

emissions. However, in 2018 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC) war ned that States' natio nally determined co ntribu-

tions (NDCs) are not a dequate to prevent global tempe ratures from

exceeding its go al of ‘well-below 2°C’ an d to pursue a goal of 1.5°C.1

The low-carbo n transition require s energy produc tion to move away

from carbon-i ntensive sources such as coal, oil an d – to a lesser ex-

tent – gas, toward a low/zero-c arbon energy mix.

Bioenergy cont ributes around 9 percent to the global energy

mix,2 and is expec ted to increase its sha re significantly over t he next

several deca des. The increase in i ts use will require t he production of

much larger volum es of biomass3 – from, for example , crops, trees,

waste and residu es – which may result in the emerge nce or exacer-

bation of negative e nvironmental and s ocial externalit ies. Indeed,

the deployment of the climate technology bioenergy with carbon

capture and st orage (BECCS), as envisag ed by many low-emissions

scenarios, may sig nificantly increase d emand for biomass to provide

enough feeds tock for it to be effecti ve. Whether the negati ve exter-

nalities of bioen ergy product ion are adequately co ntrolled is cur-

rently a domes tic policy concern. This may be p roblematic because

of the potential sig nificant global imp acts of bioenerg y production at

scale. Develo ping the global governance of bi oenergy product ion to

mitigate agains t this could therefor e be beneficial to gua rd against

the most damagi ng global impacts ass ociated with its use.

The European Uni on's (EU) sustainable bioene rgy policy may in-

fluence the development of the global governance of bioenergy to

promote more sustainable biomass production.4 The revised

1 Paris Agre ement (adopted 1 2 December 2015, e ntered into forc e 4 November 2016) 55

ILM 740 art 2(1)(a); U NFCCC ‘Synthesi s Report on the A ggregate Effe ct of the Intend ed

Nationally D etermined Co ntributions ’ UN Doc FCCC/CP/2015/7 (30 Oc tober 2015).

2 Internatio nal Energy Ag ency (IEA), ‘ Bioenergy a nd Biofuels’ (2017 ) /www.iea.

org/topic s/renew ables/ bioen ergy/>.

3 Unless sta ted otherwis e, ‘biomass’ in thi s article refe rs to feedstoc ks for biomass,

biofuels and b ioliquids fro m primary sou rces such as tree s and crops.

4 In the contex t of this article , ‘governance’ ref ers to the norms t hat govern behavi our

emanating f rom both State and n on-State actor s. These norm s may be generated b y

transnati onal network s or partners hips of private an d/or public actor s, for example

through the d evelopment of pr ivate standa rds, or emanati ng from State ac tion. See P

Pattberg a nd J Stripple, ‘ Beyond the Publ ic and Private Di vide: Remappin g Transnational

Climate Gover nance in the 21st C entury’ (20 08) 8 Internat ional Environm ental

Agreemen ts: Politics , Law and Economi cs 367; KW Abbott a nd D Snidal, ‘Str engthenin g

International Regulation through Transnational New Governance: Overcoming the

Orchestr ation Deficit ’ (2009) 42 Vander bilt Journal of Tra nsnational La w 501.

Received: 13 June 2 019 

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  Revised: 9 Septem ber 2019 

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  Accepted: 10 Novembe r 2019

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12315

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Transnational legal processes, the EU and RED II: Strengthening

the global governance of bioenergy

Emily Webster

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsi ngton Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Stre et, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

Correspondence

Email: emily.webster@kcl.ac.uk Climate change requires t he transition to a global eco nomy supported by clean e n-

ergy. Bioenergy a lready has a share of the globa l energy market, which i s slated to

increase dramatic ally over the next severa l decades. Combine d with the potential

for the deployment of th e climate technology bioe nergy with carbo n capture and

storage (BECCS), demand f or bioenergy may rise sign ificantly. The product ion of

sustainable biom ass is therefore crucial yet gre atly dependent on dome stic law and

policy. The European Unio n is a large market for biomass and may, through its r evised

Renewable Energ y Directive (RED II) influence t he governance of bioenerg y. This

is due to its impact o n private biomass producer s beyond its territorial b oundaries.

The result is the emer gence of a transnational legal process, and p otentially a trans-

national legal order, that st rengthens the sust ainable productio n of biomass, thus

balancing its benefits with the negative social and environmental externalities associ-

ated with its produ ction.