France is very pleased and honoured to be hosting the EUBCE 2024 and would like to welcome you to the radiant city of Marseille.

In Europe and in France, bioenergy is the most widely used renewable energy. It makes a significant contribution to defossilising the energy mix. Although it is mainly used to produce heat and electricity, biomass has great potential for other applications such as biofuels, biogas and biomolecules.

European policies and those of a number of countries, including France, are showing that there is a great deal in the field of biomass, both for its uses and for its carbon storage properties: food, materials, molecules, energy and negative emissions.

Call it ‘Biomass’, ‘Biomass and Waste’ or ‘Bio-resources’! Whether it is lignocellulosic, agricultural, residues or waste, or whether it’s dry or wet, it remains an energy and carbon resource with a strong potential for carbon neutrality.

At a time when a greater number of technologies have reached technological maturity and industrial and demonstration projects have demonstrated the feasibility of the processes, new questions are arising: political, regulatory and economic.

• How can we develop the best uses for biomass in sectors that need to be decarbonised, but are difficult or impossible to do so?
• How can we harmonise the approaches and interests of the various research, industrial and economic communities at European and national level?
• What legislation should be put in place to ensure that the increase in future uses will respect ecosystems and biodiversity and comply with LULUCF issues?

It’s time to show clearly that biomass has its place in Europe’s energy future, even if it’s not enough to cover all needs.

It’s time to show that biomass can be advantageously combined with other decarbonised energy sources and vectors (electricity, heat, hydrogen).

It’s time to show that the circular carbon economy is a concept for the future, applicable to the uses of biomass, as it is to those of CO2. […]