Biofuels Executive Research Board

The Biofuels Executive Research Board brought together Chief Scientific Advisors from across government to monitor and manage research into biofuels and to facilitate successful engagement with experts outside UK government.

Background

Biofuels are transport fuels made from renewable biological resources, such as plants or waste matter. Replacing fossil fuels with biofuels should reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but scientists have highlighted uncertainties in the evidence on biofuels, with some research showing that biofuels could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions if produced in the wrong way and from non-sustainable sources.

What did the Board do?

The primary objectives of the Biofuels Executive Research Board were to:
a.    co-ordinate, manage and monitor research being conducted across government on biofuels
b.    monitor research being conducted across industry and academia and by EU and international partners on biofuels
c.    identify and prioritise gaps in this research in line with policy needs and requirements
d.    facilitate identification of funding for departments to carry out work to address these gaps
e.    ensure the outcomes of the research are timely and feed into development of government biofuels policy and into the wider European and global debate on sustainable biofuels.
 

Outputs

The Board oversaw the development of a number of research streams currently underway.

Much of its work focused on securing a good evidence base for UK and international policy. It worked indirectly on barriers to industry, such as through contributions to the work of the Carbon Trust and the National Non-Food Crop Centre.

The Board was wrapped up in the autumn of 2010 and the role of co-ordinating and overseeing the development of the evidence base for biofuel policy is now incorporated into the wider bioenergy research coordination, run through David Mackay's office in the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

PROGRAMME FACTS AND FIGURES

Total investment: £2 million per year

Start and end dates: 10/12/2009 to autumn 2010