Biodiversity Impact Assessment of future biomass provision for biofuel production - Phase 1

This study aims to determine environmental impacts on biodiversity due to biomass production for bioenergy use. For this purpose the Biodiversity Impact Assessment (B.I.A.) method presented by Lindner et al. is applied to assess the impact of Miscanthus cultivation in Bulgaria and Germany. In addition, a methodological comparison to the impact assessment method by Chaudhary & Brooks (called the Potentially Disappeared Fraction of species (PDF) method here) is drawn. Assumptions on the biomass cultivation are based on a preceding study by Imperial College London Consultants, which provides an estimation of biomass availability in line with the EU Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) referring to unused, abandoned and degraded land in the EU The Fraunhofer study finds that the impact on biodiversity mainly depends on the state of the land before the cultivation of Miscanthus. However, regionally specific biodiversity value (addressed by ecoregion factors) and crop yields also affect the specific biodiversity value per biomass produced.