Context

Biomass is expected to play a crucial role in support of Canada’s transition to carbon neutrality. Potential feedstocks include various types of biomass from forest residues and agricultural crops to municipal organic waste. Their use, however, is intertwined with net-zero challenges and opportunities for various sectors, including energy and industrial uses, agriculture, food production, waste management, and sustainable management of resources in a context of unavoidable climate change. With stiff competition for its use, high costs for the various infrastructures, and a large but limited supply, an integrated strategy is necessary to ensure that biomass serves where it is most appropriate on the path to net-zero.

The main objective of this project is to codevelop, through independant analysis and close exchanges with stakeholders and experts, an evaluation and comparison framework of biomass usages in a context of transition to net zero.

This project is funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Climate Action and Awareness Fund with the financial support of the Transition Accelerator and Institut de l’énergie Trottier.

The views expressed herein are solely those of the Institut de l’énergie Trottier of Polytechnique Montréal.

Main phases of the project

Current state

The first phase of the project was dedicated to analyze the current data on different sectors using biomass for energy and non-energy purposes. The gathered information enabled a preliminary analysis of the available biomass resources, the current and potential production and the different biomass conversion technologies. The information from this analysis was used to identify uncertainties and gaps in data that needs to be filled.

Regional workshops

By using the preliminary white paper as a starting point, a series of five regional workshops were organized to discuss about the content of the white paper and exchange in roundtables on certain questions, uncertainties and other elements deemed relevant to paint the most accurate picture of the situation.

Midterm Forum

Following the regional workshops, a one-day forum dedicated to presentations, panels and plenary sessions on the contribution of biomass to net-zero was held on 13 February 2024, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

Development of an evaluation framework

This phase of the project will focus on the development of an evaluation and comparison framework for biomass usages in a context of transition to net-zero. This framework will be validated through a series of exchanges with various stakeholders and applied on specific sectors to demonstrate its usefulness.