The World Bioenergy Association (WBA) has announced the release of the 2026 edition of its annual Global Bioenergy Statistics (GBS) Report. New this year are spotlights on the EU wood pellet market, US ethanol exports, India's national biogas scheme, and the first results of the WBA's Women in Bioenergy Survey.
With support from the WBA member Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP), the 13th Global Bioenergy Statistics (GBS) Report covers the global energy mix, biomass supply, installed capacity, biopower, bioheat, liquid and gaseous biofuels, investment, and jobs.
The report finds that bioenergy remains the backbone of renewable energy, supplying more than half of all renewable energy in 2024.
However, it finds a sector moving in two directions: liquid biofuels are hitting record levels on the back of blending mandates, while biopower keeps growing, but at its slowest pace on record, and investment has fallen by more than 60 percent in two years.
Some key highlights from the 2026 Report are:
- In 2025, bioelectricity generation reached a record 711 TWh, but grew only 1 percent, its slowest rate on record. Its share of renewable electricity fell to 6.6 percent as solar and wind grew faster. China alone generated 30 percent of the global output.
- Installed bioenergy capacity grew 2 percent to 155 GW, and policy drove the growth. Chile (+46 percent) added biomass to its energy mix as it brings its coal phase-out forward, and Ukraine (+23 percent) relied on small plants to keep communities supplied during attacks on its grid, while capacity in the Netherlands fell 44 percent after subsidies for biomass power ended.
- Liquid biofuel production grew 4 percent to a record 200 billion liters in 2025, driven by blending mandates in at least 44 countries. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) output nearly doubled, and India’s ethanol output rose from about 6 to 10 billion liters after the country reached 20 percent blending in gasoline six months early.
- Investment in bioenergy power fell to US$4 billion in 2024, from a US$10.7 billion average in 2022–2023, while investment in liquid biofuels and biogases rose 6 percent in 2025.
- The bioenergy sector employed 3.7 million people in 2024, the second-largest renewable employer after solar. In the first WBA’s Women in Bioenergy survey, results indicated that women make up about 37 percent of the workforce but 32 percent of senior management.
