Co-Development of a Tool to Aid the Assessment of Biomass Potential for Sustainable Resource Utilization: An Exploratory Study with Danish and Swedish Municipalities

Abstract

In the future, there will be an increased demand for biomass to replace energy and products of fossil origin with renewable alternatives. Such a transition requires action at both the national and local level. Municipalities as key actors need tools to increase the utilization of biomass. One such tool is a means to assess biomass’ potential for use. Consequently, this study investigated how a tool to aid the “assessment of biomass potential” (ABP) could support municipalities in Sweden and Denmark to increase biomass utilization. Ten workshops were organized to gain insights into how ABP could be adopted in municipalities. A blueprint of an ABP was developed to aid discussions around four themes: (1) how should the ABP be adopted, (2) which parameters to include, (3) which departments should be involved, and (4) how complex should it be. Many workshop participants saw the biggest benefit of an ABP would be in supporting the municipalities’ climate action plans and helping build up the goals and scopes related to biomass utilization. However, for successful adoption of the ABP, many departments need to be involved, which would require building up staff competences. This study shows that ABP could support the increased utilization of biomass.