Draft bioenergy policy statement: consultation analysis

1. Introduction

The purpose of the Draft Bioenergy Policy Statement (BPS) is to set out the potential role of bioenergy in Scotland's journey to net zero. In doing so, it outlines what the Scottish Government considers to be the short, medium and long-term priority uses of bioenergy and the related actions required to support the transition to net zero. The consultation sought views on the principles and priorities for bioenergy use, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and scaling up the domestic production of perennial energy crops (PECs).

1.1 Background

This report provides an analysis of responses to the Scottish Government’s public consultation on the ‘Draft Bioenergy Policy Statement’ which ran from 20 March 2024 to 12 June 2024. In total, 59 consultation responses were received - 41 were from organisations and 18 from individuals. The organisations who responded are varied in size and purpose. A list of 40 organisations and individuals that responded and gave consent to be identified are listed at Annex A.

Of the total 59, 52 have been published on the Scottish Government’s consultation platform, Citizen Space. The remaining respondents did not want their response to be published (or did not respond to this question). All responses have been included in this analysis, irrespective of whether or not they have been published.

Public consultations invite everyone to express their views; individuals and organisations interested in the topic are more likely to respond than those without a direct or known interest. This self-selection means the views of respondents do not necessarily represent the views of the entire population.

Responses

The consultation contained 11 main questions, with 3 including a second part. In total, there were 14 open questions and 4 closed questions, where the closed questions also offered a space for further information. It sought views on the principles and priorities for bioenergy use, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and scaling up the domestic production of perennial energy crops (PECs). 46 responses were submitted directly to Citizen Space whilst the remaining 13 were received via email and manually uploaded to the system. A complete copy of the consultation questions can be found at Annex B.

Data contained in the responses to the open questions had to be cleaned before the analysis could begin. This was a systematic process which included removing duplicates, standardising data formats and correcting any data entry errors.

1.2 Methodology and approach to analysis

Qualitative analysis

A thematic analysis was undertaken which consisted of reading through the qualitative responses to each question to become familiar with the content. This enabled the initial themes and important sections to be identified.

The next step was to look for recurring patterns through highlighting key phrases and terminology. The highlighted sections were then summarised and categorised according to themes that responded to the question and organised by frequency .

The last step was organising the different themes and sub-themes in the responses to each question to develop into a comprehensive framework. Upon completing the analysis, the data gathered for each question was also compared and contrasted to identify any high-level patterns.

An iterative approach was taken, which meant referring back to the question and re-reading the initial responses as more data emerged to refine the patterns and themes identified. The technical nature and thorough detail provided in some responses means that it is impractical to fully repeat or explain these within this report.

Quantitative analysis

The consultation included 4 closed questions. Not all respondents answered every question.

For clarity, the result table for each closed question shows:

• The first row (highlighted in grey) is the percentage from the total sample of 59 respondents who selected each response (including those who did not answer the question).
• The second row (in bold) is the percentage of respondents who responded to that specific question only.
• The third row shows the percentage of organisational responses of the total number who responded to that specific question only.
• The fourth row shows the percentage of individual responses of the total number who responded to that specific question only.

Weight of opinion

We have ensured that equal weight has been given to all responses, both organisational and individual. We recognise that this approach means that a response from an organisation will be given equal weight to a response from an individual, even if the organisation represents many individuals. However, we wanted to ensure that all opinions would be considered in the analysis.

As the number of responses to each open question varied, we have avoided using exact numbers to describe the results from the qualitative analysis. Instead we have used the following approximate framework to support the reader’s contextualisation of the findings:

• ‘most’ is used when referring to more than 50% of those that provided a response to the question or relevant part of the question
• ‘many’ is used when referring to 21-50% of those that provided a response to the question or relevant part of the question
• ‘some’ and ‘others’ is used when referring to 11-20% of those that provided a response to the question or relevant part of the question
• ‘a few’ is used when referring to up to 10% of those that provided a response to the question or relevant part of the question.

This framework is used to report on the prevalence of themes within the consultation responses. However, due to the self-selection of respondents and the subjectivity related to attributing importance, it does not indicate the importance of each theme.

1.3 Overarching themes

Whilst a broad range of themes was identified, there were also three high-level overarching themes common across many of the responses – the need for strategic policy, rural considerations and better support for anaerobic digestion (AD).

Strategic policy

A common theme across all the response topics was the need for policy to be clear with long-term ambitions and targets. In line with this, there was also a call for internal policy alignment within the Scottish Government as well as alignment with UK Government and European Union policy, where relevant.

It was evident that respondents felt consistency in policy would give industrial stakeholders the confidence to make the necessary investment decisions across the BECCS sector. Similarly, they indicated that it would encourage farmers to make the correct decisions about whether to grow PECs if they know there is a reliable end market for their products. Some believed that clear signals through policy would support both BECCS and PECs sectors which are relatively new and not yet fully established.

Rural considerations

A second high-level theme identified was ensuring the rural context is taken into consideration when developing any new policy, including if setting any mandates for integrating BECCS technology and supporting the expansion of the PECs industry. Additionally, respondents believed that policy needed to be flexible enough so as not to penalise end users in rural areas who already rely upon local and sustainable biomass feedstock.

Some respondents urged the Scottish Government to support bioenergy applications and processes in rural contexts, particularly where it stimulates rural economies - including creating jobs and diversifying income streams for farmers - and provides a channel for local waste. Equally, respondents highlighted the vital role of bioenergy in supplying secure, reliable and affordable energy and supporting with decarbonisation efforts in rural areas.

Anaerobic digestion

The need for the Government to better support the anaerobic digestion (AD) industry also emerged as a prominent theme across the responses. Many respondents called upon the Government to remove barriers and develop supportive policy going forward. They endorsed AD as an adaptable and scalable process which could offer a solution to decarbonisation across certain industries as well as producing valuable end products, including digestate and biogas or biomethane. Others also highlighted the significant role of AD in supporting Scotland’s circular economy.