Current use and promotion of wood energy. Partial report on the BioSINK and BioWISE projects

This report was produced as part of two projects currently being carried out on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency: BioWISE and BioSINK. The BioWISE project focuses on the use of solid biomass in the heat sector, with the central question of how regulations can be adapted to mitigate the demand for solid biomass in the heat sector and the potentially associated negative environmental impacts. The BioSINK project, on the other hand, focuses on the forest sink and how it is affected by the use of forest wood for energy, both domestically and internationally. In the conflict between the expansion of renewable energies, including energy wood from the forest, and the need for CO${}_2$ fixation on forest areas, the aim of this report is to provide an overview of the current utilization flows of wood energy as well as the foreign trade in wood energy products in Germany. Furthermore, a description is given of such regulations and instruments that have a significant influence on the utilization flows of wood energy. Subsequently, it is examined which regulations currently apply to bioenergy with regard to the fulfillment of sustainability criteria and greenhouse gas emission limits and whether, or how, these have a limiting effect on the use of wood. Finally, a look is taken at other countries and the regulations, subsidy instruments and sustainability aspects that apply there to control the use of wood in the heating sector.