The use of agricultural biomass for energy purposes: EU and national policy

The implementation in 2020 of binding national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and use of renewable energy has increased the interest in biomass as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Thus agriculture acquires a primary role for the reduction of CO2 but raises many issues: CBA, food vs fuel, subsidies, tax measures and investments. After outlining the framework for the exploitation of biomass energy, the analysis carried out on the prospects of development of agroenergy chains in Italy, where the potential of renewables has suffered from poor planning and low level of investments in technologies and infrastructure, in suggests that biomass to generate energy may be a short-term answer to climate change problem in conjunction with the current energy crisis. However in the long term we need an effective energy policy, supported by the deployment of a new culture and a review of lifestyles and ways to produce.