Is peat renewable?
Presentation Baltic Countries Peat Producers Forum
Vilnius september 5th 2013
Magnus Brandel, Swedish Peat
From renewable to sustainable?
• Is peat a renewable resource or not?
• What does classification means for
energy peat business?
• How has the discussion developed last
years?
• How does the future look?
EU-commissions statement 2000
when discussing standards for biofuel
• Peat is not a biofuel. Peat lands are protected under
the Habitat directive and the commission policy is to
not promote the extraction of peat in Europe.
• Nevertheless, countries where peat extraction is
sustainable, may desire to produce national standards.
• But as the natural conditions of peat are not the same
in all countries of the EU, the Commission considers
the preparation of European standards as a potential
conflict with it’s policy on nature conservation.
Finnish consideration based on the
Crill-report 2001
• Peat could be classified as a biomass fuel to
distinguish peat from biofuels such as wood and
from fossil fuels such as coal.
• Unlike fossil fuels but similar to biofuels, biomass
fuels are renewable.
• Due to the long time span required for building up a
harvestable peat deposit, in comparison to wood
biomass, peat can be regarded as a slowly renewable
fuel only.
IEAs judgement 2002
• Renewable energy is energy that is derived from
natural processes that are repleinished
constantly.
• In it´s various form, it derives directly or indirectly
from the sun, or heat generated deep within the
earth. Included in the definition is energy
generated from solar, vind, biomass, geothermal,
hydropower and ocean resources, and biofuels
and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.
• IEA currently don’t consider peat as a renewable
resources.
Swedish Peat Commission (SOU
2002:100)
• Peat is a natural resource which is lasting and
indigenous and could be characterized as a
slowly renewable biomass fuel (like Crill)
What are the main aspect when determing if peat is renewable or not?
• Time dimension – Finland/Crill, IEA and EU
• Conflict with biodiversity - EU
• If peat is an abundant resource in a specific
country – Sweden
European council decision february
2011
• The strategy Energy 2050 should contribute to
promoting a more energy and resource efficient,
sustainable, low carbon, secure, interconnected and
competitive Europe, to the benefit of all consumers
• The strategy should put in the longer 2050 energy
and low carbon policy perspective
Foot note: low carbon are not excluding energy
technologies that while using carbon-based fuel have
low carbon emissions.
Is peat a renewable fuel or not?
• It is renewing but the time horizon is
longer than wood fuels.
• It is not classified as biofuel in line with
RES-directive and EU ETS.
• EU and IPCC don´t classify peat as fossil
• It could therefore be characterized as
slowly renewable biomass fuel but not a
biofuel.
What does classification mean for
peat business?
• It has created severe complications for peat –
peat should either be a biofuel or a fossil fuel
– classification between fossil/bio as peat will
create problem.
• Peat is not an energy source recognized in EUs
energy policy.
• It could therefore be seen as a local or
national fuel.
How has the discussion developed
last years?
• Focus shifted from renewable to low coal
means that the dichotomy between bio
and fossil in practice could disappeare in
the future.
How does the future look?
• Climate will probably be the overall goal and
sustainibility criteria for bioenergy means that
the boundary between peat and bioenergy
will not be so stringent as today.
• The overall question is wether energy sources
will be classified as sustainable or not
The Swedish example
• Swedish peatland is accumulating around 20
mill m3 peat every year.
• We are producing around 4 mill m3 peat/ year.
• We are only producing peat from already
ditched peatlands and therefore not using
peatlands accumulating coal.
• We are only using around 1 o/oo of peat land
for peat production.
Aspects concerning sustainable
production and use of peat
• There must be a clear balance between accumulating
peat in peatlands and utilizing peat
• The production of peat must fully take into
concideration conflict with biodiversity
• Certification is an important question - RPP
• Peat should be used with high efficiency together
with woodfuel
• Peat production and use should be sustainable from
an eoncomic point of view
Torv är ett hållbart bränsle
• Effektivitet – sameldning minskar tillförseln av primärbränsle
med upp till 21-30 % enligt EU.
• Försörjningstrygghet - minskar användningen av fossila
bränslen
• Klimatpåverkan - finns en betydande potential för att minska
torvbrukets klimatpåverkan
• Hinder mot denna utveckling - risk att torv kommer att
förlora konkurrenskraft gentemot kol
Thank You!