Harnessing biomass sources could power 100 million homes, providing 15 percent of the industrialised world's energy needs by 2020 compared with just one percent now, the report said.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and European Biomass Industry Association (AEBIOM) said this would reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by about 1,000 million tonnes a year.

That is equivalent to the combined annual emissions of Canada and Italy, according to the lobby groups.

"Decision-makers have overlooked the potential of biomass to deliver sustainable energy for the future," Giulio Volpi of WWF's Climate Change Programme said.

"The big advantage that biomass offers over other renewable energy sources such as wind and solar is that it can be stored and used when needed. It can provide a constant, non-fluctuating supply of electricity," he said.

The report said biomass -- defined as all organic matter of vegetable and animal origin -- should be seen as the energy of the future as it comes from renewable and dependable sources.

Woodchips to sewage sludge, municipal waste to vegetable oil should be harnessed also to safeguard the world's security of energy supply -- an issue on the front-burner now after oil prices rocketed to record highs.

Just two percent of land in the industrialised world would have to be set aside for biomass production, ensuring the needs of food production and nature conservation would not come into conflict, the WWF-AEBIOM report said.

The report was based on the energy needs of the 30-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which comprises most of Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

It was issued a day after the European Commission called on EU countries to dramatically increase their production of energy from renewable sources if they are to meet self-imposed targets.

The European Union hopes to derive 12 percent of its total energy consumption -- and 22 percent of its electricity usage -- from renewable sources by 2010.

But only four countries -- Denmark, Finland, Germany and Spain -- are on course to meet the targets, the commission warned.

And environmentalists want the EU to be more ambitious by setting a target to supply 25 percent of its energy demands from renewable sources by 2020.

The warnings have mounted a fortnight before the start of an international conference on renewable energy in Bonn, Germany, sponsored by the 87-nation Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition.

The Johannesburg coalition, which includes the EU, wants to go further than existing international commitments on renewable energy sources.

But Greenpeace, while applauding the EU's staunch support of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, has accused the bloc of timidity on environmentally friendly power.

"If the EU is to maintain its global reputation for leadership in the climate change issue, it has to attend Bonn with a bang, not a fizzle," Greenpeace campaigner Mahi Sideridou said.

TERRA.WIRE