BioNET – Multi-stage assessment of biobased negative emission technologies

A key element of policy strategies to achieve the net zero target in 2050: Technologies and concepts to capture CO₂ using biomass. These bio-based negative emission technologies – in short NETs – can be embedded in agricultural and forestry value chains in a wide variety of ways. Due to the manifold risks in feasibility and market introduction, these concepts have not yet found a sufficiently clearly manageable application – also because a holistic evaluation taking into account local as well as regional conditions has been lacking so far.

The joint project BioNET aims to close this gap and establish an information platform for politics, agriculture, forestry and science with sound data on the potential of bio-based NETs. This should enable stakeholders to consider biobased negative emission technologies in their work and decisions, and serve as an orientation and decision-making aid for the possible use of NETs. The objectives of the BioNET project are:

1. Provide a transparent and widely accessible database on bio-based NETs,
2. new participatory approaches to investigate social and institutional feasibility, and
3. Development and holistic assessment of national scenarios for bio-based NETs taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Stakeholder organisations in Germany are involved in all phases of the project. In the selected case study regions in the Rhine-Neckar region and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the BioNET project team is working closely with practice partners from agriculture and forestry as well as with local and regional politics. The aim is to achieve a common understanding of concepts and processes and to build trust in bio-based NETs. The project team also wants to identify and help overcome barriers such as concerns about economic losses.

Project management

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Daniela Thrän
Helmholtz-Zentrum Umweltforschung GmbH UFZ
Permoserstraße 15
04318 Leipzig, Germany

Phone: +49 341 2434 435
Email: daniela.thraen@ufz.de

Project partners

DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gGmbH / Dr. Nora Szarka
Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut Bundesforschungsinstitut für Ländliche Räume, Wald und Fischerei / Dr. Peter Elsasser
Universität Greifswald – Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Dr. John Couwenberg
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen / Prof. Christoph Müller
Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz / Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jakob Hildebrandt
Technische Universität München / Dr. Nils Matzner