This study forms part of a broader project, supported by the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA), with the primary objective to analyse the current situation and development of the international carbon markets.

Free distribution of a technology can be an effective development policy instrument if its adoption is socially inefficient and hampered by affordability constraints. Improved cookstoves may be such a case: they generate high environmental and public health returns, but adoption is generally low.

This paper assesses biofuels technology readiness and provides foresight to biofuels development in Southern Africa. Efficient conversion pathways, coupled with biomass from waste or high-yielding energy crops, reduces both the costs of biofuels production and the environmental impacts.

Greening the wood energy sector holds a vast potential for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and improving rural livelihoods, FAO said on the occasion of the UN's International Day of Forests. Up to seven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans come from the production and use of fuelwood and charcoal.

The EU’s 2009 renewable energy directive (RED I) was designed to increase the share of “renewable” fuels in transport. To achieve this the EU imposed a target of 10% renewable energy in transport on EU member states.

The use of wood for electricity generation and heat in modern (non-traditional) technologies has grown rapidly in recent years. For its supporters, it represents a relatively cheap and flexible way of supplying renewable energy, with benefits to the global climate and to forest industries.

The use of wood for electricity generation and heat in modern (non-traditional) technologies has grown rapidly in recent years, and has the potential to continue to do so. For its supporters, it represents a relatively cheap and flexible way of supplying renewable energy, with benefits to the global climate and to forest industries.