Report from GHG Task Force to provide more consistent evaluations of bioenergy emissions

Following 18 months of work led by the US and UN Foundation, the GBEP is ready to publish its Methodological Framework for GHG Life Cycle Analysis of Bioenergy.

The framework, produced by the GBEP Task Force on GHG Methodologies, is divided into 10 checkboxes covering the full chain of bioenergy production and use. It has been developed with the aim of ensuring that countries and organisations can evaluate GHG emissions associated with bioenergy in a consistent and comparable manner, using methods appropriate to their circumstances, conditions and systems of production.

It is invaluable that such a framework has been agreed through GBEP, because endorsement by major developed and developing nations as well as international organisations makes it an authoritative guide to GHG analysis. Publication, financially supported by UN Foundation, has become possible following approval by the GBEP Steering Committee of “Version Zero” of the framework. Details will also be submitted to the G8 Summit in Italy in July in the form of an annexe to the official GBEP report.

But work on the methodological framework won’t stop here: as suggested by title “Version Zero”, improvements are expected. An essential and complex process of testing can now take place, with GBEP Partners and Observers encouraged to see how the framework measures up to their own methodologies and provide feedback. The framework must also be made more user-friendly, with further guidance notes to help users complete the checklist. The GBEP Steering Committee invited the Task Force to consider creating an inventory of life cycle analysis methodologies offered by users of the Framework.

Meanwhile, the GBEP Task Force on Sustainability is due to meet in July to review initial proposals on sustainability indicators. This delicate work has begun in three subgroups – environmental, social, and economic and energy security – after the Task Force meeting in Heidelberg, Germany, in March reached agreement on a draft list of 18 criteria, ranging from greenhouse gas emissions and biological diversity to labour conditions and food security. Cross-cutting issues that don’t fall easily into one area, such as the impact of trade policies and institutional and legal frameworks, will be addressed in a separate list of recommendations.

An update on the Task Force’s work will also be presented in an annexe to the GBEP report to the 2009 G8 Summit with a final report to be submitted to the 2010 G8 Summit in Canada.

The GBEP website gives updates on meetings of the GHG Task Force here and the Sustainability Task Force here.

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