Governance of bio-energy: The case of Overijssel

Traditional regional economies are bound to change. The finiteness of natural resources, overexploitation of soils, dependency on fossil fuels, and climate change demand a rapid, innovative, and sustainable approach to foster the interests of current and future generations. One of the core challenges concerns bio-energy. Switching to bio-energy is a major issue in lowering CO2 emissions, and can be viewed as a step in the right direction towards achieving a bio-based economy and sustainable development in the long run. The province of Overijssel, a Dutch subnational administrative authority, aims to achieve largescale uptake of bio-energy within its jurisdictional area. In its climate policy program bioenergy accounts for 60% of the CO2 emission reduction needed to achieve its goals. The chances that the goal will be achieved are high as the precondition for doing so are relatively good in the Overijssel area: it has a high biomass potential, there is an adequate energy infrastructure, and the region is not densely populated. Two questions are central to this paper. First, what is the bio-energy ambition and governance approach in Overijssel? And second, what are the bio-energy governance challenges in Overijssel?