Ensuring bioenergy comes clean in the Clean Energy Package [1]

"European climate and energy policies are built on the myth that all bioenergy - being a renewable energy source - is good for the climate and good for the environment. As the use of bioenergy in the EU is expected to more than double by 2020 compared to 2005, it's becoming clear that bioenergy is not the clean dream we all hoped it would be. In some cases it can even increase CO2 emissions (compared to fossil fuels) and in numerous instances it threatens nature by putting additional pressure on already burdened agricultural land and forests. As the demand for bioenergy grows (pushed by policies), the bioenergy industry is increasingly using problematic and harmful sources of biomass for energy such as agricultural crops or whole trees directly from forests. The best potential for sustainable bioenergy lies in different kinds of waste and residue biomass, such as agricultural residues, manure or byproducts from forest industries when they don't have other existing uses and are collected at moderate levels." (p. 1)