Biofuels and Sustainability Issues

Sustainability links

This section of the website presents the views of various organizations and research activities (see Reports) concerning the widespread use of land, water and other resource to produce biomass to be used for the production of liquid transport fuel. Although biomass is a renewable energy source, the development of biofuels raises important issues of Food vs Fuel, Land Availability and Environmental Impact, Indirect Effects and a need for measures (e.g. certification, GHG savings standards and cultivation criteria) to be put in place to ensure sustainability. In the longer term, it has been suggested that bioenergy/biofuels production could be combined with carbon dioxide capture and storage (Bio-CCS) to create carbon negative energy production.

State of play of RED sustainability criteria implementation and reflection on advanced biofuels
View Presentation by Kyriakos Maniatis, Principal Administrator, EC Directorate General for Energy at EBTP SPM4 15-11-09 (596 Kb PDF)

EC certification of sustainable biofuels

On 10 June 2010, the EC announced its scheme for certifying sustainable biofuels, part of a set of guidelines explaining how the Renewable Energy Directive, coming into effect in December 2010, should be implemented.

After a detailed assessment made by the Commission and various improvements the following schemes were recognised in July 2011:

ISCC (German (government financed) scheme covering all types of biofuels)

Bonsucro EU (Roundtable initiative for sugarcane based biofuels, focus on Brazil)

RTRS EU RED (Roundtable initiative for soy based biofuels, focus on Argentina and Brazil)

RSB EU RED (Roundtable initiative covering all types of biofuels)

2BSvs (French industry scheme covering all types of biofuels)

RSBA (Industry scheme for Abengoa covering their supply chain)

Greenergy (Industry scheme for Greenergy covering sugar cane ethanol from Brazil)

The Commission is currently discussing with other voluntary schemes how these can also improve their standard in order to meet the sustainability requirements for biofuels.

GBEP sustainability indicators for biofuels

In May 2011, the Global Bio-Energy Partnership (GBEP) agreed a list of sustainability indicators for bioenergy. GBEP brings together public, private and civil society stakeholders in a joint commitment to promote bioenergy for sustainable development.

View GBEP sustainability indicators briefing note

View presentations from GBEP Events in 2011 covering GHG LCA, sustainable bioenergy for sustainable development and related topics.

In Europe, the sustainability of biofuels is the focus of the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) project Quality and Performance of Biofuels (BioF) and projects such as BioGrace. Sustainable biofuels in the EU are also subject to a certification scheme.

BioGrace - Harmonisation of GHG calculations in the EU

View Presentation on BioGrace made by Dina Bacovsky, Bioenergy 2020+ at EBTP SPM4 on 15-09-11 (1.3 Mb PDF)

BioGrace will be holding a series of public workshops on biofuels GHG calculations focusing on all Member States. The workshops will be held between February and June 2011 in Utrecht, Netherlands, Heidelberg, Germany, Paris, France, Athens, Greece, Stockholm, Sweden amd Madrid, Spain.

The EU funded project BioGrace (Contract No: IEE/09/736/SI2.558249) aims to harmonise calculations of biofuel greenhouse gas emissions and thus supports the implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED, 2009/28/EC)) and Fuel Quality Directive (FQD, 2009/30EC) into national laws. More information on BioGrace

IDB Biofuels Sustainability Scorecard

The Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) and the Structured and Corporate Finance Department (SCF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have created the IDB Biofuels Sustainability Scorecard based on the sustainability criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). The primary objective of the Scorecard is to encourage higher levels of sustainability in biofuels projects by providing a tool to think through the range of complex issues associated with biofuels.

Sustainable Production of Biofuels

The development of sustainable liquid transport fuels, which can replace finite fossil fuels, is essential to guarantee the future security of energy supply in Europe.

Like all industrial processes, production of biofuels requires energy inputs and has an environmental impact. However, first generation biofuels (bioethanol and biodiesel) already offer benefits in terms of GHG and Fossil Fuel savings.

© Copyright CPL Press
Well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions (in CO2-equivalents/km) versus total energy use for running a mid-size car over a distance of 100 km - View at larger size >>

Directive on Reneable Energy

The Directive on Renewable Energy stipulates that use of biofuels must result in an overall GHG saving of 35%, in order to qualify towards the ambitious 10% biofuels target in the EU27 by 2020. This rises to 50% from 2017 for existing production, and 60% for new installations from 2017. For plants already operating in January 2008, the GHG requirement will start in April 2013.

The BioGrace project on harmonisation of GHG calculations

The BioGrace project aims to harmonise calculations of biofuel greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that are performed in the European Union under legislation implementing the Renewable Energy Directive and the Fuel Quality Directive, and aims to provide guidance to stakeholders (economic operators, auditors, advisors) that will make such GHG calculations.

Sustainable Advanced Biofuels

Second generation biofuels produced from lignocellulosic materials (e.g, straw, energy crops and forestry residues), could enable far greater reductions in GHG, and innovative fuels created from these feedstocks will count double towards the biofuels target of 10%.

Clearly, the type, location and environmental sensitivity of land used for cultivating biofuel feedstocks is critical, if expansion of biofuel production is to be sustainable and socially acceptable.

The EC Climate Change initiative stipulated that in order to meet sustainability criteria "old forest with no or limited human intervention cannot be used for biofuels cultivation, nor can ’highly biodiverse grasslands’, or lands with a ’high carbon stock’ like wetlands or ’pristine peatlands’"

The Directive on Renewable Energy (December 2008) states further that the EC has to report on compliance with environmental and social sustainability criteria of major biofuel exporting countries. And a bonus of 29g CO₂/MJ will be applied for biofuels derived from degraded/contaminated land.

Enforcement of these conditions requires the establishment of a transparent and rigorous certification system, based upon global standards that objectively quantify various sustainability criteria for such land types. In addition, sustainability standards should cover both direct and indirect impacts on the environment (water, biodiversity, etc) and socio-economic issues (food pricing, land availability, quality of life and social stability).

The EC has also made proposals for incorporating indirect land use changes into biofuels legislation by the end of 2010.

In Italy, the BIOSEA project (optimization of biomass energy for economic and environmental sustainability) aims to optimise supply chains by making use of existing agricultural research and genetic engineering and LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) for a proper comparison between options and for the identification and elimination of critical points realting to economic sustainability and environmental processes.

Social Aspects of Biofuels Development

In September 2009, the Potsdam Institute, Germany, launched a 3-year project Biofuel as Social Fuel, which is analysing the societal impact of biofuel development, for example, the potential of technological innovation to enhance 'social progress'.

Biofuel Sustainability in the US

As in Europe, sustainability of biofuels is becoming increasingly important in the United States, and is addressed by the EPA and groups such as California Low Carbon Fuel Standards Sustainability Work Group.

Certification

As biofuels gain market share and international trading of biomass, raw materials and biofuels expands, the need to ensure socio-economic sustainability along the whole supply chain becomes more pressing. This includes aspects such as land use, agricultural practices, competition with food, energy efficiency and GHG emissions, life cycle analysis (LCA), etc.

A strategy to achieve sustainability includes the need for certification systems. Developing certification procedures for biomass feedstock to be used in biofuel production requires identification and assessment of existing systems followed by measures taken to improve them. Certification procedures need to be applicable at both global and local level and relate both to small farmers or foresters as well as large conglomerates.

Global-Bio-Pact, co-funded under FP7, aims to develop and harmonize global sustainability certification systems for biomass production, conversion systems and trade in order to prevent negative socio-economic impacts.

In June 2010, the EC set-up a scheme for certification of sustainable biofuels

more...

Environmental impact

Some intensive modern farm methods used for food production have a range of negative effects on the environment, such as soil erosion, water shortage, pollution from pesticides and probems with over use of fertilizers (including eutrophication). Eutrophication, the decrease in the biodiversity of an ecosystem as the result of release of chemical nutrients (typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorous), is only one threat to biodiversity, which may also be impacted by the replacement of a nutural ecosystem by monocultures, whether annual fields of rapeseed, sugarbeet or cereals, or large areas of coppice or short rotation forest.

For example, palm oil is one of the cheapest sources of vegetable oil and is used widely in the food and cosmetics industry, and more recently as a feedstock for first generation biofuels. The clearing of biodiverse rainforest for expansion of palm plantations has been the subject of a number of protests and campaigns by conservation groups. Conservation scientitsts have expressed particular concerns over the release of stored carbon and destruction of habitat for endangered species [Source: Biofuel Plantations on Forested Lands: Double Jeopardy for Biodiversity and Climate and Conservation Biology].

The Convention on Biological Diversity suggests that the use of payment mechanisms to protect biodiversity (e.g. REDD Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) may often be a better environmental and economic option than clearing biodiverse land to plant energy crops.

Competition for water resources is aother increasingly significant issue for biomass production.

Land availability

The amount of biomass required to replace a significant proportion of the fossil fuel used in transport runs into millions of tonnes. Hence, a crucial question is that of biomass yield. Higher yields obviously enable a similar amount of biofuel to be replaced using less land. However, land use efficiency may also be improved by selecting an overall production chain that can use a high yielding biomass crop. For instance most oils seed crops only produce a few tonnes per hectare per annum, sugar and starch crops may generate 5 to 10 tonnes, while significantly greater yields come from woody plants – or from conventional crops such as cereals if the straw can be used.

Greater utilisation of such materials depends on the development of second generation biofuels. Even if these higher yielding methods come to market, land availability still sets limits to what may be produced.

Suggestions have been made for the movement of biomass or biomass derived fuels from the more productive regions to the more industrialised countries. Should this type of movement be encouraged?

Find out more about the constraints of land use on production of liquid biofuels.

Food versus fuel

The global population continues to grow, in places at an alarming rate, and will need to be fed and will expect to live an improved life style, consuming more energy. This raises questions of ‘Food versus Fuel'; how much land and other resources are available, how should they be used and what are the priorities?

A number of overview reports covering some of the issues raised in this section are listed below. Further information is made available through downloads or web links as available.

Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC)

In October 2011, an ILUC paper was produced by WG5 of the EBTP. In the context of the discussion around indirect land use change for biofuels, the European Biofuels Technology Platform holds the view that there is an opportunity for the EU to signal its support to policies that further enhance the deployment of advanced biofuels.

EBTP Views on ILUC (74 Kb)

What is ILUC?

It has been suggested that growing energy crops on agricultural land may displace existing agricultural production, causing land use change in another location. This Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) might occur in a neighbouring area or even in another country hundreds of miles away, where an area of high biodiversity (and high levels of "stored carbon") may be cleared to make more land available for growing food or oil crops.

In the US this concept was the subject of a paper by Timothy Searchinge et al Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change published in Science in February 2008 [Vol. 319 no. 5867 pp. 1238-1240].

In a similar way, it has been suggested that increased use of rape seed oil for biodiesel production in Europe could reduce the amount available for the food industry, leading in turn to increased imports of palm oil (indirectly increasing deforestation in producer countries).

Since 2008, there has been much debate about the assumptions made and methods used to establish the impact of Indirect Land Use Change. However, there is a concensus that land use change is very complex and affected by a wide range of factors, not only biofuels.

The inherent complexity of ILUC modelling is illustrated by the ePure paper
"Indirect land use change impacts of biofuels", which addresses issues with several of the models currently used.

In February 2011, a report to the European Parliament by Oeko Institute suggested that "current scientific knowledge allows deriving a valid quantitative approximation for GHG emissions from ILUC effects which can be differentiated for various biofuels."

This raises the possibility of ILUC factors being used for different biofuels, when calculating their "GHG reduction value". Dutch policy makers have suggested using a generic ILUC factor until further crop-specific research is carried out. While in May 2011, the report Indirect Effects of Biofuels Production produced for GBEP suggested that the Low Indirect Impact Biofuels approach (Ecofys et al) may offer pragmatic solutions by mitigating biofuels production effects at the local level.

In March 2011, IEEP published a report Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels and Bioliquids in the EU – An Analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans. This report attempts to quantify ILUC impacts, and was prepared for ActionAid, BirdLife International, ClientEarth, European Environmental Bureau, FERN, Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace, Transport & Environment and Wetlands International.

On the other side of the debate, a study Indirect land use change for biofuels: Testing predictions and improving analytical methodologies published in May 2011 in Biomass and Bioenergy [Volume 35, Issue 7, July 2011, Pages 3235-3240] suggests historical data shows no impirical correlation between increases in biofuels production and land use changes for soy and corn production in US trading partners.

A pragmatic report by Greenergy 'Measuring Indirect Land Use Change from Biofuels' updated in March 2011, discusses how BioCarbon Tracker, a web platform (based on satellite imagery) can be used to show where carbon reserves are located, and which are most at risk from agricultural expansion.

"By presenting a “big picture” of land use change, BioCarbon Tracker will provide valuable input to the ILUC debate. BioCarbon Tracker will provide interactive maps of biocarbon stored in vegetation (trees, shrubs, grasses) and soil. It will identify where biocarbon is at risk from agricultural expansion and monitor changes in high risk areas. BioCarbon Tracker will also identify opportunities for increasing biocarbon through improved land management and ecosystem restoration." [Source Greenergy]

In July 2010, The EC launched a public consultation on ILUC and Biofuels.
This followed publication of a number of EC studies on this topic:

pdf - 2 MB Study "Global Trade and Environmental Impact Study of the EU Biofuels Mandate" [2 Mn]

Annex 1 [2 Mn]

Annex 2 [223 Kbn]

Study "Impacts of the EU biofuel target on agricultural markets and land use: a comparative modelling assessment" [860 Kb]

Study "The Impact Of Land Use Change On Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Biofuels And Bioliquids" [2 Mb]

Study "Indirect Land Use Change from Increased Biofuels Demand" [2 Mb]

An extensive literature review on ILUC has been carried out by E4Tech as part of a wider ILUC Study, commissioned by the UK Department of Transport. This covers first generation biofuels including: bioethanol from wheat, bioethanol from sugarcane, biodiesel from palm and biodiesel from rapeseed.

The indirect effect of biofuels has been the subject of a number of influential reports, including the Renewable Fuels Agency Review of the Indirect Effects of Biofuels (a.k.a. The Gallagher Report), which led to a change in biofuels policy in the UK in 2008.

ILUC is also a central theme of the report Biofuels - Handle with Care, jointly published in November 2009 by BirdLife European Division, European Environmental Bureau, FERN, Friends of the Earth Europe, Oxfam International, and Transport and Environment

By 2010, legislation covering indirect effects of land use will be added to the EC Renewable Energy Directive (COM (2008) 19).

An IEA Bioenergy Workshop on the Impact of ILUC was held in May 2009 in conjunction with ExCo63 , including expert presentations on this issue.

Reports

Renewable Fuels Agency Review of the Indirect Effects of Biofuels

On 21 February 2008, the UK Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly invited the Renewable Fuels Agency to undertake a Review of the Indirect Effects of Biofuels. This was done in the light of new evidence suggesting that an increasing demand for biofuels might indirectly cause carbon emissions because of land use change, and concerns that demand for biofuels may be driving food insecurity by causing food commodity price increases.

Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels: Global Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Biofuels Production Version Zero

(8.9 Mb - link added December 2008)

In June 2007, the Steering Board of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) published draft principles for sustainable biofuels production, as the basis for a global stakeholder discussion around requirements for sustainable biofuels. A period of global consultation followed, and this document (Version Zero) presents the resulting draft standard – principles and criteria, along with key elements of the guidance for implementation.

Sustainability Standards for Bioenergy (1.5 Mb PDF) – Uwe R. Fritsche, Katja Hünecke, Andreas Hermann, Falk Schulze and Kirsten Wiegmann with contributions from Michel Adolphe, Öko-Institut e.V., Darmstadt. Published by WWF Germany, Frankfurt am Main, November 2006.

Please note that the material in this report is copyright of WWF Germany, Frankfurt am Main and that any reproduction in full or in part of this publication must mention the title and credit the copyright holder.

The following material is abstracted from the report:

Sustainability standards for bioenergy are a key issue from an environmental and nature-protection viewpoint. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Germany is promoting activities in this direction. To further the ongoing discussion and offer a concrete proposal for standards, WWF Germany commissioned a brief study from the Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology). The study provides an overview of key ecological and social impacts of bioenergy and develops a core set of standards which could ensure the sustainability of future bioenergy supplies.

This report begins in Section 1 with an introduction to key bioenergy issues, summarizing “drivers”, global potential, the key issues of sustainable biomass and standards.

Section 2 gives a brief description of key potential problems and conflict areas arising from increased bioenergy supply, and derives core sustainability standards for each problem area. The standards were determined on the basis of a broad review of existing labeling and certification schemes for bio-based products and previous work carried out by the authors. A distinction is made between the use of biogenic residues/wastes and the dedicated cultivation of bioenergy crops. The study focuses on the latter.

Section 3 discusses the legal background to implementing sustainability standards with special focus on international rules, EU legal settings and certain German laws. Legal instruments are also briefly described.

Approaches to implementing sustainability standards for biomass is introduced in Section 4, which also draws conclusions from the previous sections and gives recommendations, above all on the need to begin introducing sustainability standards for bioenergy. Furthermore, some open questions are addressed.

The report closes with a reference section, a list of acronyms and annexes – offering additional thoughts on environmental assessment methods – and synopses with details on sustainability standards for biomass.