Background report provides data and facts for Germany’s National Biomass Strategy

How much wood will be available in the future for building, heating or for the production of wood products? How much agricultural land will be used to grow food and animal feed? How much livestock is justifiable in the context of climate targets in the future? What role do waste materials and residue matter play as suppliers of energy and raw materials?

These and other questions are answered in a recent background report prepared by the six research institutes Oeko-Institut, DBFZ (German Biomass Research Centre), UFZ (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research), IFEU (Institute for Energy and Environmental Research), and the Thuenen Institutes for Market Analysis and Forestry. The report summarises key data, results and considerations relating to the potential of biomass and its uses.

Biomass use – today and in the future

To achieve Germany's sustainability goals with a view to climate protection, biodiversity, peatland protection and land use, today’s biomass use must be changed or reduced in many areas. For example, wood will only be available to a limited extent as an energy source.

Instead, the raw material should be used increasingly in the future for building materials and for the manufacture of durable products. In order to reduce greenhouse gases in agriculture, animal populations should decrease, and peatlands used for agriculture should be rewetted.

More organic farming and less fertiliser, even in conventional agriculture, are necessary to protect biodiversity, but lead to lower yields and thus to increasing land use. To respond to these trends and ensure food security, more plant-based food should be grown instead of animal feed.

The report serves as an expert background report for these complex topics in order to support the design of policy processes with regard to biomass use.

Land use, timber stock, agriculture: data on the status quo

The background paper presents the current situation regarding the production and use of biomass in Germany. Of the country's total area of about 36 million hectares (ha), about 35 percent is arable land, 18 percent grassland, 31 percent forest, 2 percent wetlands and water bodies, and 13 percent settlement and transport infrastructure. On average over the last 20 years, settlements increased by 83 ha and forests by 76 ha per day, while agriculturally used areas decreased by 116 ha per day.

52 percent of the forests in Germany is state-owned and 48 percent is privately owned. Coniferous and deciduous trees are equally represented in the state-owned forests, while in the privately-owned ones, 60 percent are coniferous and 40 percent deciduous. Spruce and pine dominate the coniferous trees, while larch, fir and Douglas fir have significantly smaller proportions. Beech and oak dominate the deciduous trees.

Over the past ten years, around 66 to 82 million cubic metres (m³) of wood have been removed from the forest annually. Four times more softwood than hardwood was harvested. In addition, there are around 45 million m³ of sawmill by-products, waste wood and other wood residues. In 2020, material use accounted for 53 percent of the wood while 47 percent was used for energy purposes. Softwood and wood residues were mainly used for the production of wood products and in the construction sector, while hardwood was only used to a lesser extent. For energy generation, waste wood, industrial wood and wood residues from the maintenance of forests and woodlands are used, along with large quantities of forest wood. In 2020, around nine million m³ of hardwood and around seven million m³ of softwood were used primarily by private households.

In 2021, almost 60 percent of agricultural land was used to grow animal feed and 21 percent to grow plant-based food. The proportion of land used for animal feed is so high because the production of one calorie of milk or meat requires about five to ten calories of feed. In addition, 13 percent of agricultural land was used to cultivate energy crops, two percent for industrial crops and five percent for other uses. Of the agricultural land, 11 percent was cultivated according to the requirements of organic farming.

Short report ‘Background information on the status quo of agriculture and forestry in Germany and the future biomass potential for the development of NABIS’ by Oeko-Institut, German Biomass Research Center, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, ifeu - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Thuenen Institute of Market Analysis and Thuenen Institute of Forestry

Further background information can be found in the final report of the BIOSTRAT project.