POLIMP Briefing Note 5: Sustainability criteria for biomass: The importance of transparency, sustainability co-benefits, and trade-offs

Harmonising sustainability criteria for solid and gaseous biomass resources across Europe should help to reduce uncertainty and ultimately the costs of achieving climate and renewable energy targets. This note addresses the importance of considering sustainability trade-offs and co-benefits as opposed to using biomass solely for climate reasons. It concludes that a multi-criteria framework could serve as a starting point for discussing which sustainability impacts are valued more and are considered relevant at various government levels.