Assessing biofuels: Aiming for sustainable development or complying with the market?

The growing interest in biofuels has led to increasing concern about their wider implications, particularly if grown for transport use in large scale. Such concerns include environmental, social and economic issues. To counterbalance the possible negative effects, a series of measures are being put in place to help their sustainability. Nevertheless, considering the different meanings of sustainability in different parts of the world and the need to expand productive rural activities, the differences between trying to assure a commodity and the benefits or impacts at local level raise the questions between the aims of sustainability and the need to comply with a market. The ideal situation would be to reconcile both aspects, which in practise represent a major challenge for governments and industry. This paper provides an overview on the sustainability assessment of biofuels to consider a possible way forward.

► Multi-interactions in biomass production for bioenergy are a new paradigm to develop policies.
► Certification and verification schemes are limited to assess broader sustainability issues.
► Improved agricultural and forestry systems for biomass use will boost policies and investment.