Low indirect impact biofuel certification module

Jul 2012

One of the key sustainability challenges for bioenergy is indirect land use change (ILUC). Ecofys together with WWF and EPFL have developed a certification module to demonstrate and claim biofuels with a low risk of indirect land use change. ILUC describes the effect when existing agricultural land is used for biofuel production, the existing agricultural production is displaced onto new land, and as a result previously non-agricultural land such as forest or grassland elsewhere is converted into new agricultural land for food and feed production, leading to loss of biodiversity and additional GHG emissions. The EU is currently discussing the introduction of measures to address ILUC in the binding EU sustainability criteria for biofuels in order to increase biofuel sustainability and public support for the role of biofuels to mitigate climate change.
The Ecofys, WWF and RSB Low Indirect Impact Biofuel (LIIB) certification module presents a practical and cost-effective methodology for companies, policy makers and certification schemes that wish to stimulate biofuel production with a low ILUC risk. The methodology contains detailed ILUC mitigation approaches for four different solution types field-tested and audited in international pilots. The solution types are biomass production on unused land, increased yield increase, integration of biofuel and other agricultural production, and biofuel production from wastes and residues.

By: Ecofys, EFPL, WWF International

 
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