Promoting sustainable use of underutilized lands for bioenergy production through a web-based platform for europe
The BIOPLAT-EU proposal will promote and support the uptake of sustainable bioenergy projects on marginal, underutilized and contaminated lands (MUC lands). These lands cannot be used for food production or for recreational and conservation purposes, but in some cases, they still retain the potential to produce biomass for non-food purposes. Moreover such use of these lands is not known to stakeholders, therefore the proposal will promote and inform about such opportunities through a web-based platform which will include a public user friendly tool using global information system that will assess the environmental, social and techno-economic sustainability aspects of defined value chains for bioenergy production on MUC lands and through stakeholder engagement activities. In order to remove legal barriers for the uptake of such projects, communication activities with the responsible authorities will be organised. As for the technical and financial barriers, the proposal will support stakeholders and give guidance on how such projects can be implemented. Moreover, it will link biomass producers and processors with investors and will guide them on how to make their projects bankable.