Project to reduce greenhouse gas emission

The project 'Promoting Sustainable Biomass Energy Production and Modern Bio-Energy Technologies' funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is a joint initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority of the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy being the implementing partners.

The main objective of this project is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to the use of fossil fuel for thermal energy generation in the Sri Lanka industrial sector.

Sri Lanka depends largely on imported oils and firewood to meet its energy needs. Biomass is the main source of energy in industry (72%), followed by petroleum products (18%), and electricity (12%). About 10% of the imported petroleum products (coal, fuel and gas) amounting to 350,000 to 400,000 tons per annum, is utilized by the industrial sector to generate process heat.

Recent technological developments related to modern conversion technology and improved energy crop production has made it possible to produce biomass energy at lower cost and with higher conversion efficiencies. This makes biomass-energy competitive among other commercial fuels.

This intervention by the project will support the Government to replace 10% of the fossil fuels used in the industries to biomass-derived energy by 2017 biomass is promoted as a viable renewable energy source for industrial thermal applications over fossil fuels.

In this regard, it is very important to have a continuous and sustained supply of quality-assured biomass as an industrial fuel.

Therefore, through the intervention of the Sustainable Biomass Energy Project, Sri Lanka standard code of practice for Criteria and Indicators for Sustainably Produced Fuelwood (CISPF) to be used for various industrial applications was prepared by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on CISPF and approved by Sectoral Committee on Materials, Mechanical Systems and Manufacturing Engineering, and was authorized for adoption and publication as a Sri Lanka standard by the Council of Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI).

This code of practice will provide a flexible, practical framework for considering the environmental, social, and economic aspects of bio-energy that could be used for production of biomass energy.

However, this code of practice does not cover sustainability of the technology used in industrial processes, and only includes terminology and aspects related to the sustainability (e.g. environmental, social and economic) of the production of fuelwood.

Increase in production and use of bio-energy has a potential role in tackling climate change and promoting energy security and fostering economic growth.

This code of practice is designed to achieve those objectives sustainably which comply with the project objectives. Ultimately, this code of practice could be adopted voluntarily by producers/users who are concerned about the sustainability of their fuelwood supply.

This code of practice was field tested in biomass plantations (gliricidia) in the home gardens of members organized around Community Based Organizations (CBOs).