Electrification and the bioeconomy: three sides to the story

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the interactions between the bioeconomy and the rapid growth of electrification technologies, such as solar PV, wind, and batteries. It categorizes these interactions as competitive, complementary, or synergistic, arguing that while electrification may disrupt some biofuel markets, it also provides opportunities for decarbonizing heavy industry and improving agricultural value chains in low-income countries.

• The declining costs of solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and lithium-ion batteries are transforming energy markets, with solar and wind reaching cost parity with fossil energy in many markets even without subsidies.
• Electrification of vehicle drivetrains poses a competitive threat to liquid fuel demand, potentially disrupting the outlook for biofuels. However, because the majority of the global fleet still uses internal combustion engines, biofuels can facilitate an earlier phase-out of fossil fuels, provided they do not create a lock-in that delays the shift to clean electrification.
• In the aviation and marine sectors, batteries are only suitable for niche segments, making biofuels or synthetic electrofuels the primary alternatives to fossil fuels for the foreseeable future.
• Biomass-based electricity generation provides a complementary role to variable renewable energy (VRE) like wind and solar because it is dispatchable, provided future plants are designed with flexibility and load-following capabilities.
• In low-income countries, the bioeconomy is often hindered by a lack of electricity for infrastructure like irrigation and refrigeration. A pragmatic approach to energy access is "clean stacking," where households use a mix of technologies, such as solar for lighting and clean biomass for cooking.
• Electrification can synergistically reduce the carbon footprint of biofuel production. For example, using electrolysis powered by low-carbon electricity to produce hydrogen for refining cellulosic biomass can replace the dominant method of steam reforming from natural gas.
• Biomass can support the decarbonization of heavy industries like steel and cement through two pathways: as a substitute for fossil fuels in processes like iron ore pelletizing and cement kilns, or as a carbon source for processing iron into steel.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2019). Electrification and the bioeconomy: three sides to the story. https://www.sei.org/publications/electrification-bioeconomy-three-sides-to-the-story/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Electrification and the bioeconomy: three sides to the story. 2019. https://www.sei.org/publications/electrification-bioeconomy-three-sides-to-the-story/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Electrification and the bioeconomy: three sides to the story |date=4 December 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/electrification-bioeconomy-three-sides-to-the-story/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2019electrification, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Electrification and the bioeconomy: three sides to the story}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/electrification-bioeconomy-three-sides-to-the-story/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }