Biomass Power Doubles in a Decade, but Its Role in the Energy Transition Remains Limited

How Biomass Has Grown from Niche to a Global Energy Source

Biomass — any organic material that can be turned into heat or fuel — is one of the oldest energy sources on the planet. Long before hydrocarbons, humans burned wood, dried dung and plant waste. Today, the sector has moved far beyond the campfire. Advanced processes now transform forestry and agricultural residues, household rubbish and industrial by‑products into electricity, biogas, biodiesel and biochemicals. The result: more than 10% of the world’s total energy consumption now comes from biomass, and its share of global electricity generation has doubled in the last ten years to 2%.

That growth is being driven by two forces. First, governments and corporations are under pressure to decarbonise, and biomass is classed as renewable because the carbon it releases was recently absorbed from the atmosphere. Second, the technology is accessible — feedstock is widely available, and conversion can be done in fermenters or methane digesters that do not require the extreme conditions of some other renewables. A small number of countries, however, dominate industrial‑scale processing, meaning much of the potential remains untapped.

What the Numbers Mask: Geography, Scale, and the Greenwashing Trap

The geographical bottleneck

While the raw material is everywhere, only a handful of nations have built the infrastructure to process biomass at commercial scale. This creates a two‑speed market: large, integrated players capture the value of what is a relatively evenly distributed resource, while many regions rely on subsistence‑level burning of wood and waste — missing efficiency gains and proper emissions controls. For companies in the sector, the opportunity lies as much in exporting technology and know‑how as in generating energy at home.

Greenwashing lurks beneath the green label

Biomass’s renewable badge is not free of controversy. Critics argue that large polluters use biomass investments to polish their image while continuing to emit elsewhere — a practice known as ‘greenwashing’. The industry also faces questions about the real carbon cycle: burning wood pellets, for example, can release more CO₂ per unit of energy than coal, and the regrowth time of forests may not offset the emissions in a timeframe that climate science demands. Investors and regulators are increasingly demanding proof that biomass projects deliver genuine, verifiable carbon reductions — not just a fresh coat of green paint.

Where the Real Value Lies for Business and Policy

For waste‑management firms, the growth curve is a clear signal to explore how organic waste streams can be turned into revenue‑generating biogas or electricity, reducing disposal costs at the same time. Energy project developers should focus due‑diligence on feedstock security and lifecycle emissions data to avoid reputational damage from accusations of greenwashing. Policymakers, meanwhile, need to tighten sustainability criteria so that subsidies and carbon credits flow only to projects that demonstrate real, net‑emissions benefits over their full life.