Development of strategies and sustainability standards for the certification of biomass for international trade

Nov 2010

The "Development of strategies and sustainability standards for the certification of biomass for international trade" research project (short title: Bio-global) was carried out from Summer 2007 until Spring 2010.
The study is based on the fact that the production of renewable resources (biomass) and their application range are increasing at present as a result of ambitious growth objectives adopted in Germany, the EU, the U.S., as well as some of the developing countries. This development results in conflicts between ecological and social objectives which might counteract the political efforts to protect the climate, biodiversity and resources - not only in Europe, but also at the international level. For this reason, viable, internationally negotiable strategies and instruments have to be developed in order to significantly reduce or even avoid potential conflicts in objectives of increasing biomass use.
The present final report summarizes the results of the research project in different subject-related chapters:
• Which international strategy promises to yield globally sustainable biomass, and are sustainability standards the right answer (chapter 2)?
• What relevance can be attributed to biomass trading now and in the future, and what legal issues have to be raised with a view to sustainable trade (chapter 3)?
• What is the life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from bioenergy with respect to possible land use changes (chapter 4)?
• How can negative effects of biomass cultivation on biodiversity be successfully reduced (chapter 5)?
• What are the effects of bioenergy on water resources (chapter 6)?
• How can sustainable land use for bioenergy be achieved, and which potentials are offered by unused land (chapter 7)?
• How can bioenergy from algae be assessed (chapter 8)?
• Which sustainability standards for bioenergy can be transferred to the use of biomass as a (raw) material (chapter 9)?
• What open questions remain for research after the completion of the research project (chapter 10)?
A short breakdown of the current state of the discussion concerning social standards is included in the Annex.

By: Öko-Institut, Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung (IFEU)

 
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