Biofuel production from European grassland and impact on the livestock sector

摘要

It has been suggested that the pressure on European grassland has recently declined, while its biomass could be used for energy provision, thereby contributing to a low carbon economy. In particular, grassland feedstock can be used as a second generation biofuel, through transformation of its ligno-cellulosic content. However, it is not clear how much grassland biomass could be utilized without competing with the feeding of livestock, whose demand is expected to rise globally. Furthermore, the futureof European grassland remains uncertain: while a potential increase in productivity has been suggested in both agriculturally improved pastures and extensive grassland, ambitions to halt biodiversity loss in Europe could play a role in the opposite direction. In this paper, we use the GLOBIOM global land-use model to investigate the impacts of using different amounts of grassland biomass in the EU on the grassland area and the livestock sector. Results suggest a possible but limited contribution from grassland in sustainable biofuel production.