Regional emissions from biofuels cultivation

The United Kingdom as a former European Union Member State, was required by Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC (RED), to assess the typical emissions at regional level arising from the cultivation step of biofuel supply chains.

Where possible this assessment should be carried out at the NUTS2 regional levels. The original purpose of this requirement was to identify those areas of the EU where typical GHG emissions from the cultivation of crops can be expected to be less than or equal to the default values for cultivation in the Directive.

The regions where this is the case are known as ‘NUTS2 compliant’ regions. Those reporting on biofuel supply chain GHG emissions using crops from that region are permitted to use the default value for the cultivation step from the RED. Alternatively, it is also permitted to use such regional cultivation data in the place of actual crop production data for calculation of actual fuel chain GHG emissions. Provision of NUTS2 regional values therefore reduces the administrative burden for farmers and the agricultural trade to produce farm-level emission data. When reporting on biofuel supply chain GHG emissions, this figure can then be combined with GHG data for downstream emissions (i.e. the processing and transport steps of the supply chain).

This report represents the UK’s fulfilment of the RED requirements by setting out the approach and results of calculations undertaken to determine the typical GHG emissions arising from the cultivation of the most common biofuel feedstocks in the UK at a regional level. This is the second revision that has been made of the original UK report. The original version of this report was completed in December 2010 and updated in December 2012.

The rationale behind this latest revision is to ensure that the most up-to-date data and assumptions reflecting UK agricultural practices and processes are used, to ensure the most accurate possible representation of UK cultivation emissions.

The main updates made to the analysis in this revised report are:

Average Emission Factor (EF) for N₂O-N from applied fertiliser N updated to reflect latest evidence for UK soils, drawing on the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories

• Regional crop yields revised using most relevant data
• Fertiliser and pesticide application rates revised using most relevant data
• Organic fertiliser application rates and emission factors
• Emission factors for other energy and material inputs updated

Three crops with RED default values are assessed (winter feed wheat, oilseed rape and sugar beet) as well as four crops which do not have default values (winter barley, spring barley, oats and triticale).