Bioenergy is a form of renewable energy that is obtained from plants, waste, and animal waste products. Bioenergy is one of the most predictable forms of renewable energy, as it can be stored easily enough in various forms – solid, liquid, and gaseous.

Solid biomass is one of the most widely used forms of bioenergy worldwide. Solid biomass is used in both households and manufacturing. In households, the biomass is mainly used only for heat. In manufacturing, the biomass is used for both heat and electricity generation. A particularly active user of biomass is the EU, which is not only the largest producer but also a consumer of wood pellets in the world.

In Latvia, the heat supplied in the district heating system is mostly (approximately 80%) produced from solid biomass, mainly wood chips. At the same time, heat is also produced by burning firewood, wood pellets, briquettes, wood residues, and non-wood biomass. In cogeneration plants, where both heat and electricity are generated at the same time, the biomass consumption is only 11% as it is still more efficient to use fossil resources in these plants.

Bioenergy is also available in gaseous form. The most widely used biogas today is biomethane. It is mainly obtained from agricultural manure by fermentation. The resulting gas is purified from various impurities to obtain almost pure methane. Biogas can also be obtained from other resources: algae, sewage sludge, and biological waste.

The EU is also the world's largest producer of biomethane. Considering the fact that in general, biogas is used in much smaller amounts in the world than solid biomass, in Latvia, it is also used in smaller amounts, moreover, only in cogeneration plants.

As previously mentioned, biomethane can be used to generate heat and electricity. It can be added as an impurity to natural gas, reducing its impact on the environment, as well as in the transport sector, for the operation of gas vehicles.

There is no unequivocal view of bioenergy in the world. The treatment of bioenergy mainly depends on the resource. For bioenergy to be considered environmentally friendly, it shall be generated from raw materials, from which it is not possible to obtain a higher value product, and it shall help to reduce GHG emissions. Currently, biomethane corresponds to a sustainable energy source in EU legislation. Therefore, several EU and Latvian planning documents envisage the development of biomethane generation from manure, thus reducing GHG emissions in the agricultural and energy sectors.