
==== Front
Heliyon
Heliyon
Heliyon
2405-8440
Elsevier

S2405-8440(24)13211-2
10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37180
e37180
Research Article
Perceptions of biomass energy sustainability in policy scenarios of China
Wang Xiaoyu xiao_yu_100@163.com
a1∗
Liu Qiqi c1
Yang Lu b
Yang Qing a
Li Yujiao a
Yang Yu a
Zhou Chao a
Wang Xu a
Wang Yang a
Gao Guofu a
Liu Wenxiang a
Cheng Ping a
a Hunan Institute of Agricultural Information and Engineering/Hunan Intelligent Agriculture Engineering Technology Research Center, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, 410125, China
b State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice/Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, Changsha, 410125, China
c Yueyang Academy of Agriculture Sciences and Researches, Yueyang, 414022, China
∗ Corresponding author. xiao_yu_100@163.com
1 Xiaoyu Wang and Qiqi Liu contributed equally to this work.

29 8 2024
15 9 2024
29 8 2024
10 17 e371808 11 2023
26 8 2024
28 8 2024
© 2024 The Authors
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
This study examines biomass energy policies in the EU, US, and Japan, noting high implementation rates in Poland (86.5 %) and Finland (90.6 %). Germany's biogas utilization is particularly noteworthy, accounting for 29.6 %. The paper summarizes China's national and provincial waste biomass management and energization policies, encompassing agriculture, biomass energy, and environmental governance aspects. Analyzing China's biomass energy industry reveals challenges requiring a comprehensive development plan based on waste biomass resources and environmental zoning. Proposed solutions include establishing ecological energy agriculture demonstration zones, optimizing policies for environmental benefits, encouraging technological innovation, establishing a trade association, improving standards, setting up a waste biomass fund, introducing green certificates and quotas, and integrating waste biomass into the national carbon trading system.

Keywords

Bioenergy
Biomass resource management
Biomass energy products
Industry standard
Ecological energy agriculture demonstration zone
==== Body
pmc1 Introduction

The global commitment to combating climate change and transitioning towards renewable energy sources has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. At the forefront of this movement are ambitious pledges made by nations and international bodies to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. China promised to increase national independent contribution and adopt more powerful policies and measures at the general debate of the seventy-fifth United Nations General Assembly in 2020. Carbon dioxide emissions strived to reach the peak by 2030 and strived to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 [1]. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly expounded his thoughts on carbon peak and carbon neutralization in the deliberations of the delegation of Inner Mongolia at the fifth session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress. To achieve the goal of “double carbon” was a broad and profound change, and a long-term task, which should not only be unswerving, but also be promoted scientifically and orderly. Striving to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 was a major strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core to coordinate domestic and international situations. It was an inherent requirement for implementing the new development concept, building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development. It was also an inevitable choice to focus on solving the prominent problems of resource and environmental constraints and realizing the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.

The International Energy Agency released the Renewable Energy 2020 report, which predicted that renewable energy would replace the dominance of coal power in 2025 for nearly 50 years and become the world's most important power generation mode [2]. The European Commission formally issued the ' European Green Agreement ' (hereinafter referred to as the ' Green New Deal ') to articulate Europe 's course of action towards a climate-neutral circular economy in 2019, proposing an enhanced EU climate target for 2030 and 2050, namely a 50%–55 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 on the basis of 1990 and a net zero-emission carbon neutrality target by 2050 [3].

The Chinese government's dedication to carbon peak and neutrality aligns closely with its national energy roadmap, demanding a shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources like wind, solar, and biomass. This transition necessitates prioritizing renewable energy technology development and deployment, encompassing infrastructure investments, R&D, and supportive policies. However, challenges like intermittency and variability of renewable energy pose grid stability risks, requiring advanced storage, smart grid solutions, and flexible management. Economic and social implications, especially for fossil fuel-reliant regions, demand support measures like economic diversification and job retraining. Ultimately, international cooperation is crucial as climate change transcends national boundaries, necessitating global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions effectively.

Biomass energy has gained significant attention as a renewable energy source in recent years due to its potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. However, the sustainability of biomass energy in different policy scenarios needs to be carefully evaluated to ensure its long-term viability. This paper aims to explore the perceptions of biomass energy sustainability in policy scenarios of China.

2 Methodology

To investigate the perceptions of biomass energy sustainability, this study relies on a literature review of relevant research articles and policy documents. The sources used for this analysis include reputable scientific journals and reports on environmental science, environmental sociology, policy studies, and conservation science. The following sources were used in this study.

This study adopted a mixed-method approach, including literature, interviews, and fieldwork. A literature review was conducted to analyze relevant sources, including the policy documents of government, Internet forums, newsletters, and journal articles. A total of 55 literatures were collected and analyzed. Database of "Web of Science" and "China Knowledge Network" were used to search the academic papers published worldwide in the last 8 years about policy scenarios of biomass energy sustainability.

This research carried out on-the-spot survey on straw utilization through face-to-face interviews with farmers in Shanxi, Jilin, Anhui, Hunan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Yunnan, Ningxia and Xinjiang. The selection of survey locations was based on comprehensive consideration of administrative divisions and comprehensive agricultural zoning information. A total of 996 valid questionnaires were collected from surveys in provinces of six major regions in China. For provinces that were not surveyed, the crop residue utilization ratio or average value of surveyed provinces in the same region was adopted (Fig. 1).Fig. 1 The number of valid questionnaires for the survey on the current situation of crop residue utilization in the fields of some provinces in China.

Note: NC: North China; EC: East China; SW: Southwest China; NC: Northwest China; NE: Northeast China; SC: South China.

Fig. 1

Data on the utilization ratios of field residue for maize, rice, wheat, beans, potatoes, rapeseed, peanuts, cotton, and sugarcane were obtained. For crops without surveyed data on the utilization ratio of field residue, the utilization ratio of crops obtained from the same region would be referenced. The utilization ratio of other crop residue will be taken as the average of the utilization ratio of maize, rice, and wheat field residue. The data for sesame straw will be taken as the average of the utilization ratio of peanut and canola residue. The data for straw of other oilseed crops will be taken as the average of the utilization ratio of peanut, canola, and sesame residue.

Based on the utilization ratio of various crop residue utilization methods for each crop in the field, utilization ratio of each crop in each province was calculated by weighted averaging according to the residue yield.

3 Results

The study examines the carbon dioxide removal potential, costs, as well as energy and water implications of Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). The findings suggest that ERW is competitive with other large-scale Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) strategies in terms of energy and water [4]. According to the International Energy Agency mentioned [5], taking action to reduce CO2 emissions is vital for sustainable development. This finding emphasizes the importance of implementing policies that reduce CO2 emissions to ensure the sustainability of biomass energy. A study mentioned that highlights the significance of policy efforts to control emissions. The research suggests that implementing policies such as rising carbon taxes and energy efficiency standards can contribute to a sustainable future [6]. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a crucial role in conservation science [7]. The research emphasizes the involvement of NGOs in scientific research and their potential impact on ensuring the sustainability of biomass energy through their contributions. The improvement of greenhouse gas emission efficiency in biomass energy production is considered advantageous, according to a study. This finding suggests that enhancing the efficiency of biomass energy production can contribute to its sustainability in policy scenarios (Fig. 2).Fig. 2 Logical Mind Map for perceptions of biomass energy sustainability in policy scenarios of China.

Fig. 2

3.1 Current situation of the industry

As shown in Fig. 3, the types of global biomass energy supply could be grouped into these five categories, which were solid biomass, liquid biofuel, municipal waste, industrial waste, and biogas. In addition, WBA2020 data showed that 85 % of global biomass energy supply comes from solid biomass, liquid biofuel, and biogas account for 7 % and 3 % respectively, followed by municipal and industrial waste at 5 %.Fig. 3 Distribution ratio of global biomass energy supply (Data from WBA2020) (World Bioenergy Association 2020).

Fig. 3

Solid biofuels clearly accounted for a larger proportion of these countries as shown in Fig. 4, which could reach as high as 98.8 % especially in Estonia, but neither liquid biofuels nor renewable waste had a share in this country. A high value of this index was also noted in Poland and Finland (86.5 % and 90.6 %, respectively). Moreover, the share of biogas was also significant in Germany, accounted for 29.6 %. Liquid biofuels and renewable waste also had a small component in these countries (except Estonia), the renewable waste was the highest in Austria (21.1 %), the liquid biofuels ranged from 4.6 % (Finland) to 13.5 % (Sweden).Fig. 4 Composition of biomass energy supply types in different countries.

Fig. 4

Fuel ethanol: China's annual fuel ethanol consumption stands at around 2.6 million tons, ranking among the top 3 globally in terms of industrial scale, with ethanol gasoline accounting for approximately 20 % of total national gasoline consumption. There exists a capacity gap of over 8 million tons, indicating a potential for rapid expansion and significant contributions to the growth of related enterprises [8]. The Chinese market's demand for fuel ethanol is poised for substantial growth, potentially five times the current level in the short term. A nationwide promotion of ethanol gasoline is targeted for 2020, aiming for full coverage, with ambitions to achieve large-scale production of cellulose ethanol by 2025. Premier Li Keqiang has outlined the overall development strategy, including the expansion of ethanol gasoline use, now covering 26 provinces (Fig. 5). While fuel ethanol is an effective means of utilizing aged grain, the first-generation grain-based production faces challenges like land competition. Therefore, the state is emphasizing research and development in second-generation lignocellulose-based fuel ethanol, especially from straw, to address high collection and production costs, aiming for commercialization [9].Fig. 5 Project boundaries and baselines for crop residue used to produce biomass energy conversion pathways.

Fig. 5

Biodiesel: In 2004, over 300 biodiesel enterprises boasted a peak capacity of 3.5 million t/year, yet only a fraction operated regularly, with nearly 90 % shutting down or halting production, resulting in an annual output below 600,000 t/year. The major constraint was a lack of raw materials; while China annually produces 4–5 million tons of "waste oil," only 700,000 tons were utilized for biodiesel from the collected 2.4–3 million tons [10]. Currently, "Ditch oil" is highly valued in the market, fetching up to 5000 yuan/t, but is often illegally diverted to edible oil production, posing a threat to consumers. Biodiesel development is crucial to prevent waste oil from re-entering the food chain, establish a robust collection system, and ensure proper disposal. Market mechanisms, such as diesel oversupply and insufficient regulations, hindered progress, evident in Yunnan Yingding Biomass Energy Co., Ltd.'s lawsuit against Sinopec, dismissed after three years [11]. However, a joint announcement promoting national V standard B5 biodiesel revitalized the industry, with two Sinopec stations in Shanghai selling B5 biodiesel refined from waste oil at a 95 % discount, marking a significant milestone in waste oil utilization. Implementing mandatory blending policies and establishing a nationally suitable blending system are imperative (Fig. 5). Biodiesel enterprises, operating at small scales, face challenges in qualifying for refined oil sales. Prioritizing an effective national coordination mechanism and pilot projects is crucial [12].

Solid molding fuels and heating: China's solid briquette industry underwent three phases from 2006 to 2016: initial (2006–2008), development (2009–2013), and wandering (2014–2016). In 2016, forestry residue briquette production surged 30.97 % year-on-year to 485,100 tons, led by producers in Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Jilin, and Heilongjiang (Fig. 5). As a renewable energy, it costs more than coal but less than electric and natural gas heating, yet subsidies for briquette fuels lagged coal-to-electricity and coal-to-gas conversions. The 13th Five-Year Plan for Biomass Energy Development aimed to promote large-scale, low-emission biomass briquette boilers, yet by 2016, the clean heating area for biomass energy in northern China fell short of the 2021 target set in the Winter Clean Heating Plan. Enhancing raw material supply, establishing industrial standards, and developing related technologies and emission control equipment are critical [13]. Biomass briquette boilers can meet or exceed natural gas boiler emission standards, with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and soot emissions below 20 mg/m3, 50 mg/m3, and 200 mg/m3 respectively [14]. In 2017, solid molding fuels were removed from the highly polluting fuels list, and a demonstration project for biomass cogeneration heating was launched, with support from the National Energy Administration [15].

Biomass power generation: According to the requirements of the 12th Five-Year Plan for Biomass Energy Development, China attained 13 million kW of biomass power capacity in 2015, generating 78 billion kWh annually. By 2017, this grew to 14.88 million kW, primarily from agricultural, forestry biomass, and waste incineration, with minimal biogas contribution. This consumed 70 million tons of residues, benefiting farmers with 15 billion yuan. However, challenges persist, including limited cost reduction (60%–70 % raw materials), intense market competition, and discrepancies between pollution control standards and biomass power practices. The waste power industry lacks standards awareness, leading experts to propose environmental protection emission standards for sustainable development. Subsidy arrears of 14.36 billion yuan for non-catalogued projects hinder progress, primarily due to renewable energy surcharge collection difficulties. With renewable energy capacity expanding, the subsidy gap widens, requiring urgent action [16,17]. Despite current arrears, subsidies are guaranteed for 20 years, aiming to expand the industry, lower new project costs, and accelerate subsidy independence, which is progressing rapidly [16]. Biomass power enterprises must adapt, and relevant departments should devise industrial restructuring plans. Selecting fuel boilers based on biomass blending ratios and methods can improve combustion efficiency. National policies for coupled power generation are crucial, influencing technology choices and biomass electricity measurement [18].

Biogas: Since the 1970s, national legislation and planning have spurred rapid development in China's biogas industry, making it one of the world's largest and most advanced, serving a vast population [19]. Initially focused on small-scale household biogas, policy shifted to supporting large and medium-sized projects with the changing agricultural structure and urbanization. The China Academy of Petroleum Economics and Technology's 2050 World and China Energy Outlook predicts a cleaner global energy mix, with natural gas surpassing oil and China's unconventional natural gas (primarily bio-natural gas) production peaking at 420 billion m3. China's bio-natural gas potential, mostly from waste biomass, is estimated at 233 billion m3 annually, reaching 235 billion m3 in 2050. However, current output lags behind potential, totaling 19 billion m3 in 2015, mostly for household use, indicating a mismatch with consumption demand [20,21].

Crop residue was used as raw material to produce fuel ethanol, bio-oil, aviation fuel, solid molding fuel and other research boundaries, including crop residue collection and transportation, pretreatment, production, transportation, and utilization of various biomass energy. The baseline was the carbon emissions from the traditional straw treatment process and the energy production and use process under the scenario that crop residues were not used for the energy utilization of various biomass in Fig. 5.

3.2 Facing difficulties in China

China's renewable energy consumption ratio reached 11.64 % in 2015, however, biomass energy was accounted for only 8 % of all renewable energy utilization. According to the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" for the development of bio-industry issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the annual replacement of fossil energy by biomass energy exceeded 56 million tons of standard coal, which could achieve comprehensive and large-scale application in the fields of power generation, gas supply, heating, and fuel oil; Biomass energy utilization technology and core equipment technology had reached the world advanced level [15]. Compared with renewable energy sources such as hydropower, wind power, and photovoltaic, biomass energy industry had a good foundation, and its internationalization degree was even much higher than other renewable energy sources, and some technologies had reached the international leading level.

The output of abandoned biomass resources in China was huge, the air-dried heavy output of solid waste biomass was 1.691 billion tons, liquid industrial organic wastewater was 19.95 billion tons in 2015. The output of solid waste biomass would reach 1.741 billion tons by 2030. Such a huge amount of waste seriously threatens our living environment, and many crop residue directly burned in the open air for a long time would lead to serious air pollution. More and more malodorous gases emitted by livestock and poultry manure pollute the rural atmospheric environment, and liquid and solid harmful substances could affect the water quality; A large amount of food waste was illegally used as pig feed or produced into "waste oil", which would endanger people's health.

Energy utilization of waste biomass could reduce pollution, promote carbon emission reduction. The carbon emission reduction potential of waste biomass energy utilization in China was 395 million t CO2Geq in 2015, which was accounted for 3.68 % of the total carbon emissions in China. Based on different scenarios, more than 2 billion tons of carbon would be reduced by 2060.

Biomass energy efficiency estimation was a critical issue, and an increasing number of studies had estimated the energy efficiency by using different research methods at global, national, or regional scales in recent decades, the studies mainly focus on assessing the total amount of various types of biomass energy and estimating the energy efficiency of a certain type of biomass feedstock. The results of relevant literature research in different countries or region had been tabulated in the following table, which were part of Asian countries (Table 1A) and America, European union, and Africa countries (Table 1B). As shown in Table 1A, the changing trend of energy efficiency in China from 2011 to 2021 increased obviously especially in agricultural and forestry residues, China was one of the major agricultural nations in the world, with an abundance of agricultural residues and the huge ability to produce biomass energy. The biomass energy situation of other Asian, America, European union and Africa countries in recent years were analyzed, which Russia had a great potential of bioenergy generation from waste materials, China and India had huge demand of bioenergy as same as Nigeria. The energy efficiency of agricultural residues in India has 500 times more than South Africa.Table 1A Summary of energy efficiency of different biomass feedstock types in Asian.

Table 1ACountry	Feedstock Type	Energy Efficiency	References	
China	Agricultural residues	14.70 EJ	[22]	
Forest residues	3.90 EJ	][22]	
Municipal solid waste	2.30 EJ	[22]	
Agricultural and forestry residues	24.78 EJ	[23]	
Waste	23.01 EJ	[23]	
Heat + bioethanol + biogas	3.01 EJ	[23]	
Agricultural biomass	1.96 × 108 tce/a	[24]	
Forestry biomass	0.98 × 108 tce/a	[24]	
Municipal solid waste	0.28 × 108 tce/a	[24]	
Waste edible oil	0.04 × 108 tce/a	[24]	
Pakistan	Crop residues + animal waste + municipal solid waste + forest residues	230000 Mt	[25]	
India	Agricultural residues	6502.3 Mt	[26]	
Japan	Dedicated biocrops + agricultural residues + forestry residues + surplus wood + black liquor + municipal waste + livestock residues	3.43–3.78 EJ/a	[27]	
Myanmar	Livestock and poultry	3.10 Mtoe	[28,29]	
Agricultural sector	4.20 Mtoe	[[28], [29]]	
Forestal sector	9.36 Mtoe	[[28], [29]]	
Municipal sector	0.38 Mtoe	[[28], [29]]	
Note: EJ means 1 × 1018 J and PJ means 1 × 1015 J; Mtoe means “Million Tones of Oil Equivalent” and Ktoe means “Kilotonne of Oil Equivalent”; Mt means “Million Tones”.

Table 1B Summary of energy efficiency of different biomass feedstock types in America, European union, and Africa.

Table 1BCountry (or Region)	Feedstock Type	Energy Efficiency	References	
The United States of America	All available wastes and residues	3.1–3.8 EJ	[30]	
EU-27 (including Switzerland)	Agricultural residues + forestry residues + urban greening management + food waste	8500 PJ/a	[31]	
Switzerland	Forest wood	107.5 PJ	[32]	
Animal manure	48.8 PJ	[32]	
Agricultural crop by-products	14.9 PJ	[32]	
Sewage sludge	4.9 PJ	[32]	
Wood from landscape maintenance	9.4 PJ	[32]	
Others	23.9 PJ	[32]	
Russian	Crop residues	940.0 PJ	[33]	
Livestock waste	201.0 PJ	[33]	
Forest residues	509.9 PJ	[33]	
Municipal solid waste	554.7 PJ	[33]	
Biogas	19.8 PJ	[33]	
Spain	Forest biomass	4.1 Mtoe/a	[34]	
Agriculture biomass	6.4 Mtoe/a	[34]	
Turkey	Dry agriculture residue

	4560 Ktoe

	[35]	
Moist agriculture residue	250 Ktoe	[35]	
Animal waste	2350 Ktoe	[35]	
Forestry and wood processing residues	4300 Ktoe	[35]	
Municipality wastes + human extra Firewood	1300 Ktoe	[35]	
Firewood	4160 Ktoe	[35]	
South Africa	Agricultural residues	5.8–13.1 Mt	[36]	
Nigeria	Agricultural residues	1.09 EJ	[37]	
Animal wastes	0.65 EJ	[37]	
Municipal solid waste	0.11 EJ	[37]	
Forest residues	0.05 EJ	[37]	
Wood fuel and charcoal	0.43 EJ	[37]	
Note: EJ means 1 × 1018 J and PJ means 1 × 1015 J; Mtoe means “Million Tones of Oil Equivalent” and Ktoe means “Kilotonne of Oil Equivalent”; Mt means “Million Tones”.

4 Conclusion and discussion

4.1 Optimizing top-level design for waste biomass Energy's environmental benefits

Energy utilization of waste biomass could not only treat waste in an environmentally friendly way and produce a certain amount of renewable energy products to partially replace fossil energy, while bringing huge carbon emission reduction benefits. At present, only energy utilization was the most effective way to recycle waste biomass. Many facts in developed countries had proved that the traditional way of producing organic fertilizer had less ability to treat waste biomass due to the low efficiency of crop planting. Therefore, Governments at all levels should take environmental governance as the starting point, attach great importance to the energy development of waste biomass, further improve the policy of waste biomass energy research, development, and industrial policies, and increase financial and tax support. We should focus on promoting the guidance of waste biomass raw materials to energy utilization from the environmental protection policy, while cracking down on illegal use [38]. Only the state would support and offset part of the environmental governance costs that should have been paid by finance through policies. Biomass energy industry had equal competitiveness in the market.

4.2 Ecological energy agriculture demo zone for circular industrial chain

According to the national waste biomass zoning, we should combine with the agricultural development in various regions and establish national and provincial "ecological energy agriculture demonstration zones". The government should combine environmental energy with agriculture, use waste residue of waste biomass energy to produce organic fertilizer, and extend the talent industry chain to organic agricultural production. An "ecological energy demonstration zone around large cities" based on catering waste "gutter oil" and sewage sludge should be established, which mainly produced biogas and biodiesel; The "Ecological Energy Demonstration Zone was around Small and Medium-sized Cities", which was mainly based on crop straw, livestock manure, catering waste, waste oil, sewage and sludge, produces fuel ethanol, bio-oil, aviation fuel, briquette, electricity biogas and biodiesel; In the crop residue gathering area, a "straw ecological energy agriculture demonstration zone" to produce fuel ethanol, bio-oil, aviation fuel, briquette fuel, electricity biogas and biodiesel was established, and so on. Because of the different environmental sensitivity in different regions, differentiated management and support policies could be implemented. In the management of demonstration projects, we should adopt the form of tripartite cooperation between enterprises, universities, and the government, with the idea of "small science and technology institute". College students should carry out scientific research in enterprises, find out the specific problems existing in the process of energy utilization of waste biomass by combining theory with practice, and then explore operable solutions, to strengthen the construction of industry-university-research cooperation technology system and promote scientific research and development and achievement transformation.

4.3 Waste biomass energy utilization and technology innovation research

Biomass energy industry was a new industry, which was urgent to strengthen scientific research and technological innovation. Although the amount of raw material resources was large, but it was scattered. The government and trade associations should organize research and form a perfect collection, storage, and transportation system of biomass raw materials. Biomass energy production technology was immature, production cost was high, energy conversion rate was low. It was also important to study the sustainability of the industrial chain of waste biomass energy utilization, which was necessary to study the impact of each link from raw materials to products and three wastes treatment on ecological environment and social development. The introduction of professional and technical training were important measures to improve industrial development, strengthen the construction of key laboratories and research and development centers, and build biomass technology innovation alliance. At the same time, scientific and technological innovation and personnel training should strengthen international cooperation, and actively introduce and learn foreign advanced technology and experience.

4.4 Trade association or branch for biomass energy advancement

The energy utilization industry of waste biomass involved a wide range. Raw materials included agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fungus breeding, industry, service industry, and municipal administration. The processing and product side included ethanol power generation, jet fuel, natural gas heating, and briquette fuel, which were inseparable from industries such as equipment manufacturing, transportation, environment, and information. It was not conducive to information exchange and business cooperation within the industry. Due to the special needs of the industry, a national biodiesel industry cooperation group had spontaneously set up.

In order to strengthen the unified and standardized management of waste biomass resources and energy utilization industry, it was necessary to establish a waste biomass energy industry association directly under the jurisdiction of the competent national ministries and commissions or set up branches under relevant influential associations. Its purpose was to uphold the development concept of "green mountains and green waters were Jinshan Yinshan", implement the basic national policy of saving resources and protecting the environment, relying on the general membership, contact all forces, which would play the role of bridge and link. Main responsibilities should include conveying and implementing industrial policies issued by governments at all levels. The problems existing in the development was collected and studied, the government should provide practical suggestions to formulate and improve the policy mechanism and industrial planning, support scientific research and industrial development, formulate industry technical standards, carry out demonstration projects, promote information exchange and business cooperation within the industry, and provide consulting services such as policy management technology and market demand.

4.5 Establishing and improving waste biomass energy standards

The industry standard system of waste biomass energy should be organized, established, and improved by trade associations. First, we must establish basic standards, including terminology and inspection methods. All people should follow by raw material standards, which included crop residue, forestry residue, edible fungus residue, livestock and poultry and aquatic waste, industrial organic waste and domestic garbage, raw materials, collection, storage, and transportation standards. Secondly, it was the energy conversion technology and product standards. Finally, it was the ecological environment standards related to the treatment of raw materials and final three wastes (waste gas, liquor, and residue) in the process of waste biomass energy.

4.6 Establishing waste biomass fund for environmental compensation

Producers of pollutants should bear their due responsibilities. Environmental protection tax could force enterprises and other actors to avoid discharging pollutants, reduce the use of fossil energy, and promote clean and renewable energy consumption, to promote the utilization of various resources of waste biomass. The system had strong binding force on some large pollutant producing units, such as coal-based thermal power plants. Because the extensive use of fossil fuels would bring many pollutants, power plants would pay taxes for this purpose. If waste biomass energy was used to replace fossil fuel consumption, this tax expenditure would be saved. At the same time, environmental protection tax or ecological deposit would be levied on the behavior subjects who discharged waste biomass as pollution sources, which would lead waste biomass to energy utilization.

At present, many countries had charged a certain level of deposit to those who may pollute or destroy the ecological environment to protect the ecological environment. If the actor really polluted or destroyed the ecological environment, the government would deduct part or all the deposit, in order to compensate the ecological environment, and the pollutant deposit return system would be more common. For example, if the farm owner had failed to legally treat the pollutants produced by the farm owner and causes pollution to the ecological environment, the funds would be deducted and not returned.

According to the national waste biomass energy development policy, the specific use and management system of the special fund was formulated, which provided the fund to the waste biomass energy utilization industry and related projects with low-interest or interest-free loans.

4.7 Establishing green certificate and quota system for biomass sales

Establishing a green certificate and quota system would help to share the cost of biomass energy. The development strategic goal of the proportion of non-petrochemical energy would be focused on in primary energy consumption at different stages in China and formulated a unified national quota standard for biomass energy. It could not only reflect the common responsibility of all provinces in China for strategic goals and avoid the delay in the introduction of relevant policies caused by the game between policy-making departments and provinces falling into quota targets, which would achieve a more fair and reasonable sharing of renewable energy costs in various provinces [39]. Secondly, considering that different regions had different affordability for prices, higher biomass energy quota targets could be set in economically developed areas, so that these areas could share more renewable energy costs and provide more financial support for the development of renewable energy. Finally, an inter-provincial consumption mechanism of renewable energy was established and encouraged the purchase of renewable energy power and green certificates in bundles [39].

At the same time, we should combine the development of urbanization and explore the function of biomass energy providing local energy network service in rural communities. At present, the energy consumption efficiency of rural households was low. There were great differences in the variety structure of energy consumption between urban and rural areas, energy consumption varied from region to region, and energy poverty coexisted with inefficient waste. In 2019, The total energy consumption of an ordinary rural household in China was about 1.12 t standard coal (per capita consumption of 384 kg standard coal), biomass energy such as biogas and straw firewood was the main energy, accounting for 61 %, followed by coal accounting for 15 %, electricity accounting for 11 % and liquefied petroleum gas accounting for 7 % among them. Indoor heating and cooking energy demand was each accounted for 44 %, and household appliances demand was only accounted for 6 %. However, most rural areas use original biomass and loose coal, and low efficiency and unsanitary problems were widespread [40,41]. Constructing rural biomass energy experimental base according to local conditions would promote the transformation of traditional biomass energy utilization into efficient and clean modern commercial energy and the adjustment of rural energy consumption structure. In rich areas of field residue and livestock manure resources, there would be given priority to the utilization of bio-natural gas and combined with organic fertilizer. It not only could improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of biomass resources, but also could avoid the damage to the ecological environment caused by combustion and power generation. In areas rich in forestry resources, there would be given priority to cogeneration to use biomass resources such as bark to solve the heating problem of residents while generating electricity [42]. Constructing rural distributed energy system would become an effective way to ensure the service level of rural energy supply and realize green energy development, and it was an important content of rural power grid construction and green development in the future.

4.8 Integrating waste biomass into national carbon trading system

Because the electricity price surcharge of renewable energy cannot be collected in full, there is a big gap between the collected funds and the actual demand, and the country faces the double pressure of increasing electricity price and defaulting on biomass power generation subsidies [43]. Incorporate waste biomass energy into the national carbon trading system as soon as possible, could effectively reduce the pressure of state financial subsidies. The global carbon trading market had reached 50 billion euros per year between 2009 and 2013, which was expected to reach 3.5 trillion US dollars by 2020. Since the 1990s, China's ecological compensation practice had gradually developed to all aspects of ecological environment. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou had carried out pilot work on carbon emission trading in 2011, and the National Development and Reform Commission had issued a Notice on Doing a Good Job in Starting the National Carbon Emission Trading Market in 2016. There would pilot carbon trading mechanisms in key emission industries such as petrochemicals, building materials, steel, nonferrous metals, paper making, electricity and aviation. Eight carbon exchanges had been formed in Beijing, Fujian, Guangdong, Hubei, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Chongqing, with a total turnover of 185.24 million tons of carbon and a turnover of 3.73 billion yuan by 2017 [44]. It could be seen that the national carbon trading had developed rapidly, and the conditions for waste biomass energy to be incorporated into the carbon trading system had gradually matured.

The perceptions of biomass energy sustainability in policy scenarios of China are influenced by various factors such as Enhanced Rock Weathering, CO2 emission reduction, policy efforts, the role of NGOs in conservation science, and greenhouse gas emission efficiency. It is crucial for policymakers to consider these factors when formulating policies and strategies to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of biomass energy in China.

Data availability statement

Data included in article/supp. Material/referenced in the article.

Funding

This research was supported by Key Research and Development Program of Hunan Province of China (No. 2023NK2011 ).

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Xiaoyu Wang: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Software, Conceptualization. Qiqi Liu: Methodology, Data curation. Lu Yang: Writing – original draft, Conceptualization. Qing Yang: Methodology, Data curation. Yujiao Li: Software, Resources. Yu Yang: Funding acquisition. Chao Zhou:Software. Xu Wang:Supervision. Yang Wang: Investigation. Guofu Gao: Formal analysis. Wenxiang Liu: Investigation. Ping Cheng: Formal analysis.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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