The objective of this project is to quantify feedstock expansion onto land with high carbon stock, as input for the determination of high ILUC fuels. IIASA oversees the global mapping of feedstock expansion into high carbon stock land.
© HiLUC Project
The project consists of several tasks, such as a global mapping of feedstock expansion into high carbon stock land, regional mapping in main areas of feedstock expansion, assessment of energy yields and GHG emissions.
In the global mapping, IIASA is using crop expansion maps for the main biofuel feedstock (maize, palm oil, rapeseed, sunflower seed, soybean, sugar beet, sugar cane and wheat) and combine these with maps on high carbon land loss (e.g., deforestation maps and information on peatland conversion) to come to global GIS based maps presenting feedstock expansion in high carbon areas. The work will be combined with regional mapping, focusing on those regions where there is considerable cropland expansion or high carbon land loss. The information will come together in an updated global map, using all data collected throughout the project, which will determine recent values for feedstock expansion shares into high carbon stock land for each crop.