Brief me
The demand for biomass is growing worldwide. However, its long-term viability is at risk, due to declining ecosystem conditions. The latest JRC findings call for more coherent governance and urgent actions to ensure that biomass production and use are compatible with ecological limits and EU policy goals.
With the JRC Biomass Mandate, 12 EC services have agreed in 2015 to task the JRC with delivering on a long-term basis scientifically robust assessments of EU and global biomass supply and demand. This by focusing on environmental, social, and economic sustainability through data, models, and analyses.
Key resources
Biomass by area
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Biomass mandate outputs
Expand the tabs to explore publications from the JRC Biomass mandate. See Key resources from the EC Knowledge Center for Bioeconomy for more outputs.
Reports
- Sankey diagrams of woody biomass flows in the EU and its Member States 2012-2021: how they were made (2026)
- EU Biomass supply, uses, governance and regenerative actions, 10-year anniversary edition (2025)
- Biomass supply and uses in the EU - Summary for policymakers (2023)
- Biomass production, supply, uses and flows in the European Union (2023)
- EU Biomass Flows (2022)
- Analysis of wood resource balance gaps for the EU (2021)
- The use of woody biomass for energy production in the EU (2021)
- The Biomass of European Forests (2020)
- Biomass flows in the European Union (2020)
- Biomass production, supply, uses and flows in the European Union: First results from an integrated assessment (2018)
- Biomass flows in the European Union The Sankey biomass diagram – towards a cross-set integration of biomass (2017)
Scientific papers
- The role of biomass in the European Green Deal policies (2025)
- Reconciling the different uses and values of deadwood in the European Green Deal (2024)
- Volume, increment, and aboveground biomass data series and biomass conversion and expansion factors for the main forest types of EU Member States (2024)
- Harmonised statistics and maps of forest biomass and increment in Europe (2023)
- The quest for sustainable forest bioenergy: win-win solutions for climate and biodiversity (2022)
- Boosting the EU forest-based bioeconomy: market, climate, and employment impacts (2021)
- The EU bioeconomy: supporting an employment shift downstream in the wood-based value chains? (2020)
- Assessing forest availability for wood supply in Europe (2020)
- Developments of economic growth and employment in bioeconomy sectors across the EU (2020)
- Assessing the impacts of the EU bioeconomy on third countries (2019)
- Alternative global transition pathways to 2050: Prospects for the bioeconomy (2019)
- Outlook of the European forest-based sector: forest growth, harvest demand, wood-product markets and carbon dynamics implications (2018)
- An assessment of forest biomass maps in Europe using harmonized national statistics and inventory plots (2018)
- Are primary agricultural residues promising feedstock for the European bioeconomy? (2017)
- The impact on global wood-product markets of increasing consumption of wood pellets within the European Union (2017)
Briefs
- Bioeconomy employment and value added: science for policy brief (2022 data) (2025)
- The Role of Deadwood in the European Green Deal: Science for policy brief (2023)
- Primary and old-growth forests are more resilient to natural disturbances – Perspective on wildfires: Science for policy brief (2023)
- Brief on jobs and growth of the EU bioeconomy 2008-2017 (2020)
- Brief on biomass production of fisheries and aquaculture (2020)
- Brief on food waste in the European Union (2020)
- Brief on algae biomass production (2019)
- Brief on the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate environmental impacts of the bioeconomy (2019)
- Brief on jobs and growth of the bioeconomy 2009-2015 (2018)
- Brief on agricultural biomass production (2018)
- Estimating jobs and wealth in the Bioeconomy (2017)
- Brief on forestry biomass production (2017)
- The Sankey Biomass Diagram: Research Brief (2017)
Interactive charts and tools
Latest knowledge from this Project
More information
More information and links
| Originally Published | Last Updated | 20 Nov 2018 | 30 Jul 2026 |
| Knowledge service | Metadata | Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre | Agricultural biomassAlgae biomassForestry biomassFisheries and aquaculture biomass |
| Related organisation(s) | JRC - Joint Research Centre |
| Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET) | bioeconomybiomassforestaquatic ecosystemAgriculturebioenergyecosystemEU policyfood wastenatural resourcessustainable development |
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