Quick guide to GBEP sustainability indicators: an interview with the Chair of the Task Force on Sustainability 


Mr. Sven Olov Ericson, Chair of the GBEP Task Force on Sustainability and Deputy Director at the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, tells us all about the GBEP Sustainability Indicators


How will these sustainability indicators make a difference to future development of bioenergy?

Modern bioenergy presents great opportunities for sustainable development and climate change mitigation, but it must be handled carefully to avoid some of the risks it bears too. We know that the distinction between “good” and “bad” bioenergy depends on each country’s situation and priorities. The GBEP sustainability indicators take up the challenge of guiding this process by helping policy makers at the domestic level take informed decisions towards the sustainable development of bioenergy. Measured over time, they will enable governments to determine whether they are seizing these opportunities for sustainable development and managing these challenges adequately by showing progress towards or away from a sustainable development path as determined nationally.

How have they been drawn up?

The indicators are the result of three years of intense discussion and consultation carried out through the GBEP Task Force on Sustainability: this newsletter has reported through these years on the challenges faced and the progresses made by the Task Force at different times. The Task Force established three sub-groups (environmental, social, and economic and energy security) to develop a set of indicators on the basis of the following selection criteria: relevance, practicality and scientific basis. The agreed 24 sustainability indicators were developed under three pillars (Environmental, Social and Economic) to reflect common usage in international discussion on sustainable development. Relevant “themes” also guided the development of indicators under each pillar. Decisions were taken by consensus among Partners.
The GBEP work on sustainability is the result of a joint political and technical process that was very participatory in nature. Governments were closely involved in devising these indicators and they ensured the involvement of their technical officers throughout the entire process. As a result, there is a strong feeling of ownership on the part of participating governments.

What was the most challenging part of defining the indicators?

When the Task Force on Sustainability was established in 2008, the work looked immediately very challenging: to develop a list of indicators that had to be science based, relevant, practical and cover all biomass for energy. Two intense years of discussion co-ordinated by the UK, at the time leader of the Task Force, led to a provisional agreement on a list of indicators. When Sweden took the leadership towards the end of 2010, a lot of work had been done, in large part thanks to the precious work of co-ordination and mediation of the UK. It was a moment in which we all felt very near to the final goal and still sensed it could all come to a halt. In particular, innovative solutions were required to accommodate the wide range of positions with regard to issues like food security, land tenure and indirect land-use change. It was through an immense collaborative effort - at both political and technical levels -  that we were able to announce in New York last May the agreement reached on the final 24 indicators.It marks the first global, government-level consensus on a set of voluntary, science-based indicators for assessing the sustainable production and use of bioenergy and reflects the diversity of bioenergy production and use from an environmental, social as well as economic perspective. The 24 indicators take a holistic approach to assessing many important aspects of the intersection of bioenergy and sustainability, including greenhouse gas emissions, biological diversity, the price and supply of a national food basket, access to energy, economic development, and energy security. The solutions we found to reach consensus were not the lowest common denominator and did not result in the watering down of the product. I believe the intense debate actually strengthened the product and the work benefitted from the cooperation of governments and multilateral agencies in the search for technically-robust solutions to political challenges. This consensus is unique.

How do these indicators relate to other sustainability frameworks for biofuels and bioenergy? Did you take other frameworks into account?

The GBEP Task Force works in synergy and consultation with other national, regional and international initiatives that are defining their own criteria for sustainability. In addition to officials from governments and the European Commission with their own biofuel sustainability criteria for regulatory purposes, representatives of multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels and Bonsucro have participated in the work of the Task Force. The GBEP work, while different, has therefore benefitted from the consultations and technical work that has gone into these other schemes and the lessons learned from them. GBEP’s set of indicators aims to be an innovative tool in that it is applicable to all forms of bioenergy, not only liquid biofuels, in all countries, and is a voluntary tool that does not feature directions, thresholds or limits, nor does it constitute a standard. Despite the fact that it is neither legally binding nor policy prescriptive on GBEP Partners, I believe the strong sense of ownership will stimulate its voluntary implementation.


In practical terms, how are the indicators going to be implemented and by whom?

The Task Force is currently refining the methodology sheets, which contain supporting information for the indicators. Its members are also identifying pilot countries to implement the new indicators, an important first step for testing their usefulness on the ground and ensuring that these measurements are carefully embedded into national planning processes. The G20 Summit on Agriculture (Paris, 22-23 June 2011) has recently expressed its support for the indicators and GBEP Partners have already expressed strong interest in taking part in the upcoming piloting phase. An important role in this process will be also played by the new Working Group on Capacity Building, which GBEP established in May, through its activities of cooperation and capacity building for sustainable development. This will be the forum through which countries, international organizations and other stakeholders cooperate in the implementation of the indicators and the exchange of lessons learned from this implementation. We expect to be able to confirm some countries where initial piloting will be performed shortly.

 

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