Experts of land-use, energy, water, and biofuel technologies, scientists, engineers and professionals from around the world were convened in 2020 to make up a world class consortium to discuss, debate, and refine the potential for biofuels to be incorporated into national and sectoral decarbonization strategies. In a recently released report, Roadmap to 2050: The Land-Water-Energy Nexus of Biofuels, these researchers attempt to better understand the intricacies of the global biofuel market, the evolution of key technologies, and the intersection of biofuel production on the land, water, and the local economies from which they are derived.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018 Report stated, “Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” In recent years it has become clear that that scenario would require not only a transformation of our energy system in order to meet our global emissions targets, but also a rethinking of the way we control the temperature of our homes, travel around our planet, and manufacture our goods.

In order to meet this transformation in by mid-century, scientists, engineers, and technical experts are needed in the crucial role of designing pathways for the decarbonization process of specific, energy-intensive sectors, notably power, industry, transport, and buildings. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) invited more than sixty technical experts from around the world to gather in Milan in April 2019 to discuss the state of decarbonization technologies that can accelerate the global shift towards decarbonization.

The Roadmap to 2050: A Manual for Countries to Decarbonize by Mid-Century report is the result of this workshop. The report provides an overview of the latest decarbonization technologies available for national governments to populate their low-emission development strategies as outlined in article 4.19 of the Paris Agreement. Following the Paris Climate Agreement’s aim to strengthen the global response to the climate crisis “in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty,” the report is conceived on a "systems approach," aspiring to simultaneously address multiple objectives and promote policy instruments and technological solutions that can be used across sectors. The multiple objectives span decarbonization and environmental sustainability, economic prosperity (including poverty reduction), and social inclusion that leaves no one behind.

The report is defined by 4 technical summaries: power, industry, transport, and buildings. In order to make sense of the very complex and integrated system of energy and power, the authors of this report have identified Six Pillars of Decarbonization from which every country can begin to develop their roadmap to decarbonization by mid-century.