Page 130 - Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

118 Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

Fig. 5.1 World total primary energy supply (IEA, 2018).

increase. As shown in Fig. 5.1, the only notable reduction occurred around
2008, corresponding to the global recession causing decreased economic and
industrial activity. As of 2016, global energy supply was approximately 580
PJ per year, of which 81% was provided by fossil fuels; this percentage was
exactly the same in the year 1990.
As a result of the dominance of energy supply by fossil fuels, the sector is
characterized by combustion technologies. Therefore it is perhaps not sur-
prising that the most frequently addressed sustainability impacts of energy are
climate change and direct emissions of local pollutants. For instance, on the
former, the 2015 Paris Agreement has resulted in 141 countries submitted
Nationally Determined Contributions with specific emission reduction tar-
gets for their energy sectors, at a total estimated cost of approximately USD
470 billion (The World Bank, 2016). On the latter issue of specific pollut-
ants, various governments have enacted ever-tightening legislation to
reduce emissions of key pollutants. The EU Industrial Emissions Directive
(2012), for instance, contains limits on the emissions of particulate matter
(PM), SO 2 ,NO x , and CO from industrial combustion activities at various
scales. A similarly restricted set of pollutants is also regulated in the transport
sector in Europe, the United States, and many other regions via vehicle
emissions standards.
The adoption of other, broader policies is also gaining traction in the
energy sector including the EU’s sectoral targets for 2020 and 2030 which
cover emissions, energy efficiency, and the share of renewables in the energy
mix (European Commission, 2014). Meanwhile corporate social