Biofuels are fuels produced from biomass and natural matter, which will be produced from crops reminiscent of cereals or sugarcane, wooden, grasses, or organic waste reminiscent of animal fat and oils.
These biomass sources will be transformed into vitality provides in numerous methods. They will, for instance, be burned to provide electrical energy in an influence plant. They may also be processed into liquid fuels and utilized in automobiles, vans, and planes. It’s these two “fashionable” functions that the information and analysis on this web page deal with.
This web page focuses on what known as fashionable bioenergy. Conventional bioenergy, which is the direct burning of wooden, crops, and different organic waste, stays a major supply of vitality for cooking and heating for billions of individuals. That’s lined individually in our work on Power Entry.
Electrical energy will be generated from biomass utilizing numerous strategies. The most typical methodology is combustion: biomass, reminiscent of wooden pellets, wooden chips, and forest residues, is burned in an influence plant, similar to you’d do with coal. This creates steam, which turns a turbine, and this generates energy.
Bioenergy accounts for a comparatively small share of the world’s electrical energy, however, as we’ll see, in some international locations, it’s a considerable supply of energy.
How a lot of the world’s electrical energy comes from bioenergy?
The chart under exhibits bioenergy’s share of the international electrical energy combine.
In 2000, it produced round 1% of the world’s electrical energy. This doubled over the subsequent 20 years, however has stagnated at simply over 2% within the final 5 years.
Compared to different sources of electrical energy, the expansion of bioenergy has been comparatively gradual. It took virtually 20 years for its share to extend one share level, from 1% to 2%. Solar energy is now rising its share by a couple of share level yearly.
Which international locations depend on bioenergy for electrical energy?
Some international locations get a considerable share of their electrical energy from bioenergy. The map under exhibits the distribution the world over.
Luxembourg generates virtually one-third from biomass. In Uruguay, Estonia, and Denmark, round one-fifth.
Bioenergy is rather more frequent in Europe and South America than in different areas, for a number of causes.
Many international locations in Europe had present or older coal plant infrastructure; these may very well be simply retrofitted to make use of biomass as an alternative of coal. A number of, together with Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia, even have giant forestry sectors that produce wooden residues and lower-grade wooden, which may very well be diverted in the direction of electrical energy manufacturing. Bioenergy has made up a considerable share of their electrical energy era for many years, so this isn’t a current change. Insurance policies in the European Union — the place biomass is counted as a renewable supply — have usually inspired a change to bioenergy by means of subsidies and feed-in tariffs.
South America — as we’ll quickly see — produces numerous liquid biofuels for transport. In an effort to scale back their dependence on oil, a number of international locations in South America have carried out large-scale applications to advertise the manufacturing of bioethanol. Essentially the most notable is the “Proálcool” program in Brazil. Sugarcane is their major biofuel crop, and it leaves behind a fibrous residue that can be utilized for electrical energy manufacturing.
Biofuels are additionally produced in liquid type and used as gas in transport. As we’ll see, most of this biofuel comes from rising crops, reminiscent of corn, sugarcane, oil palm, and soybeans. Waste cooking oil and animal fat are additionally used to provide liquid fuels.
As we speak, most liquid biofuels are utilized in street transport. They are often blended with petrol or diesel at numerous concentrations, displacing some oil from the vitality combine. However more and more, they’re promoted as a possible answer to decarbonizing sectors reminiscent of aviation or delivery.
How has international liquid biofuel manufacturing modified over time?
Liquid biofuels have grown dramatically over the previous few many years. As you’ll be able to see within the chart under, international manufacturing has grown sixfold within the final 20 years.
This has been pushed by insurance policies in just a few key areas — notably the USA, Brazil, and the European Union — which have actively promoted biofuel manufacturing.
Which international locations produce biofuels?
The place on the planet are these biofuels produced? You possibly can see manufacturing — measured by way of vitality content material — by nation within the map under. Each the USA and Brazil stand out because the world’s largest producers.
Solely a handful of nations (or areas, if we contemplate the European Union collectively) produce a lot of the world’s biofuels.
America is the world’s largest producer, as you’ll be able to see within the chart under. Subsequent are Brazil, the EU, Indonesia, and China. These 5 international locations/areas alone produce greater than 80% of the worldwide whole.
You possibly can see how international manufacturing of liquid biofuels has modified over the previous few many years, damaged down by nation. All of the foremost producers noticed substantial development over that point (and proceed to take action).
Curiosity and insurance policies oriented in the direction of biofuels began in the USA within the Nineteen Nineties as a method to cut back its dependence on overseas oil markets. In 2005, it launched its Renewable Gas Normal, which mandated {that a} minimal quantity of the nation’s transport gas be sourced from biofuels. In 2007, it prolonged it additional. This led to a fast development in biofuel manufacturing, largely from corn (maize).
Brazil began utilizing bioethanol many years earlier. As you’ll be able to see, by the early Nineteen Nineties, they have been already producing vital volumes. Nevertheless, manufacturing ramped up within the early 2000s, once more, as a method to scale back the nation’s dependence on oil for transportation. Most of its biofuels come from sugarcane.
What crops are used for biofuels?
What are the biomass sources of those fuels?
Within the chart under, you’ll be able to see a breakdown from the Worldwide Power Company. This exhibits every feedstock’s share of worldwide liquid biofuels by quantity (i.e., liters).
A lot of the world’s biofuels — over 90% of them — come from meals crops, not waste oils or fat. The biggest supply is corn (maize), which accounts for simply over one-third of the overall. Most of this comes from the USA, the place biofuel demand has pushed most of its development in corn manufacturing over the previous few many years.
Sugarcane — largely produced in Brazil — is the second largest supply, adopted by oil crops together with palm oil, soy oil, and rapeseed. Used cooking oil and animal fat make up round 12%.
How a lot land is used for biofuel manufacturing?
What makes this barely difficult to reply is that biofuels usually produce co-products which can be allotted to different makes use of, reminiscent of animal feed. The way you modify this land used for biofuels and their co-products can result in fairly totally different outcomes.
A current evaluation from researchers at Cerulogy estimated that biofuels are grown on 61 million hectares of land.1 However once they break up this allocation between land for biofuels and land for animal feed, the land use for biofuels alone was 32 million hectares. The opposite 29 million hectares can be allotted for land use for animal feed.
There are a lot greater revealed figures. The Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops estimates that as a lot as 112 million hectares are “used to provide feedstock for biofuels”.2 By this definition, there isn’t a adjustment for twin use of that land or the land use of co-products. That’s one of the explanation why the figures are a lot greater. Even taking this into consideration, the numbers are nonetheless greater, and it’s unclear why. The methodology isn’t absolutely clear.
Placing the more moderen determine of 32 million hectares into context: think about an space just like the one within the field under: 640 kilometers throughout, and 500 kilometers excessive. For context, that’s about the dimensions of Germany, Poland, the Philippines, Finland, or Italy.
You possibly can learn extra in regards to the land use of biofuels, together with some evaluation on whether or not this land may very well be used for vitality extra effectively, in our article:
What are biofuels used for?
Collectively, biofuels produce round 4% of the world’s vitality demand for transport.
The overwhelming majority of biofuel use is for street transport. The Worldwide Power Company reviews round 99% of it.3
Lower than 1% was used for aviation in 2023. However inside aviation’s gas provide, biofuel’s contribution is even smaller. We estimate that solely round 0.4% of aviation’s vitality demand comes from biofuels.4
You possibly can see each of these factors within the chart under.
You possibly can learn extra in regards to the contribution and potential of biofuels for aviation in our article:
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Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado (2026) - “Bioenergy and Biofuels” Revealed on-line at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/bioenergy-biofuels' [Online Resource]BibTeX quotation
@article{owid-bioenergy-biofuels,
creator = {Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado},
title = {Bioenergy and Biofuels},
journal = {Our World in Information},
yr = {2026},
notice = {https://ourworldindata.org/bioenergy-biofuels}
}
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