Are Standards the answer to the Biofuels Debate?
15th September 2008 by Alex Briggs
The Gallagher Review, commissioned by the UK government and released in July, concluded the EU’s biofuels target of 10% of all fuels by 2020 could not be met sustainably and advised that targets be scaled back.
The report concluded that, while the current targets are not realistic under the existing regulations,
if robust, comprehensive and mandatory sustainability standards are implemented now, a genuinely sustainable industry could evolve.
This ClimateChangeCorp.com article goes on to discuss existing standards, as well as introducing the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels “Version Zero” proposed standard.
At present, a fragmented biofuel supply chain and a lack of credible standards has prompted warnings against intensive energy crop production from NGOs, research bodies and regulators such as the UK ’s Renewable Fuels Agency, which produced the Gallagher Review.
For these reasons, NGOs such as the WWF, businesses such as Shell, BP, Petrobras, and government bodies such as the UK government and the European Commission, have welcomed a new umbrella standard called “Version Zero” of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB).
Designed in consultation with stakeholders, including corporations, governments and NGOs, the RSB provides a global set of sustainability principles and criteria that address the direct impacts of biofuel production on air, water and soil quality, human, land and labour rights, as well as its economic implications for local communities. Its generic nature means that it can be applied to all biofuel feedstocks.
The RSB acknowledges that several of its core principles are likely to be compromised by indirect impacts on commodity prices and emissions resulting from land conversion. It says that further research is needed if these impacts are to be avoided and plans to engage with stakeholders on these issues over the next year.
The response to the RSB so far has been positive. The International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance, a non-profit organisation that assesses the credibility of voluntary standards, has already accepted the RSB as an associate member – a move that Jean-Phillipe Denruyter, WWF global bioenergy coordinator, says lends credibility to the standard.
At present, the RSB standard lacks regulatory teeth, given that it only comprises a set of principles and criteria, with no indicators and metrics to back it up. But Denruyter says that over the next six months, the RSB promises consultation and field tests will be carried out to develop more specific indicators against which the performance of biofuel projects can be measured.
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