Bio360 Africa - themes & focus areas
Themes & Focus Areas - Bioenergy: Biogas, biomethane, biohydrogen, biofuels, solid biomass, applications off-grid, grid-connected, self-consumption
- Bioeconomy: Circular economy, integration with agriculture
- Carbon Management: BECCUS, carbon removal, carbon finance
- Sustainable Transport
- Cross-cutting themes: Policy, finance, capacity building
- Regional Focus: African bioenergy sector insights
The Bioenergy Sector in Africa: From Tradition to Transition Bioenergy remains central to energy access in Africa, where the vast majority of the population continues to depend on traditional biomass—mainly firewood, charcoal, and agricultural residues—for cooking and heating. These fuels are typically used in open fires or inefficient stoves, resulting in high levels of indoor air pollution, respiratory illnesses, and a heavy burden on women and children who are responsible for fuel collection. This widespread traditional use contributes significantly to forest degradation and climate change due to unsustainable harvesting practices and low combustion efficiency. Bioenergy encompasses many potential feedstocks, conversion processes and energy applications. It interacts strongly with the agriculture, forestry and waste management sectors, and its prospects are linked to the growth of a broader bioeconomy. Bioenergy can only expand if supplied and used in a sustainable manner. |  |
Modern bioenergy solutions use advanced technologies to efficiently and sustainably convert biomass - such as wood and wood residues, energy crops, agricultural and crop residues, and organic waste from industries, agriculture, landscape management, and households—into solid, liquid or gaseous fuels that can be used to produce heat and/or electricity or can be used as a transport fuel. These innovative systems are steadily gaining ground in Africa, providing cleaner, more sustainable alternatives.
The resource is often located in remote or rural areas, outside urban centers, where reliable power supply is frequently needed. This creates valuable opportunities for agro-industries, often located at the end of a power line and frequently affected by brownouts to generate their own electricity or even sell surplus power back to the grid.
Building on success stories and accelerating the roll out of modern bioenergy brings multiple climate and societal benefits in all regions of the world. The ambition of Bio360 Africa is to act as a catalyser and to accelerate the uptake of bioenergy across the African continent.