The financial and GHG cost of avoiding ILUC in biomass sourcing - a comparison between switchgrass produced with and without ILUC in Ukraine

Avoiding ILUC is becoming important. An important option is the use of land that would otherwise not be used for food or feed production. This generally means that lower quality or marginal land will be used. Switchgrass is one of the main perennial biomass crops that can produce high biomass yields under low input conditions and which can be established at low cost by seeds. In Ukraine this crop has in recent years been tested, yielding information that can be used to assess the cost and GHG balance of growing the crop, pelletizing, transport to the Netherlands and conversion into electricity. Results show that GHG emissions on low quality soil without ILUC are higher than for good quality soil grown switchgrass with ILUC. Analysis of the costs of growing switchgrass on low productive soils are 22% higher compared to high quality soils. It is concluded that ILUC avoidance needs to be quantified and rewarded.