Fuels & Lubricants Magazine

Green Corner
Comprehensive and scientific
guidelines, regulations and
standards must ensure that
increased biomass outputs
respect sustainability
considerations
A very successful inter-task workshop was held in
Gothenburg in May 2017 on the topic of sustainability of
bioenergy supply chain with approximately 100 attendees.
The preliminary project results of inter-task project on
“Measuring, governing and gaining support for sustainable
bioenergy supply chains” (2016-2018, synthesised
works of Task 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43) are covering three
main objectives:
An overview and examples of calculation methods &
tools to assess the sustainability of various biomass and
bioenergy supply chains.
Comparison and assessment of the legitimacy, including
effectiveness and efficiency of a variety of approaches
on how to govern and verify sustainability of biomass
and bioenergy supply chains in different conditions.
Understanding the positions and underlying motivations
of stakeholder groups relative to their perceptions
of bioenergy and inform dialogues/discussions to avoid
misconceptions and gain trust in bioenergy.
The workshop held on the first day included two
tracks, with one focused entirely on measuring sustainability
and the second on governance and stakeholder
involvement. An overview and examples of calculation
methods & tools to assess the sustainability of various
biomass and bioenergy supply chains focusing largely on
the agriculture, forestry and biogas sectors were provided.
Also compared a variety of approaches on how to
manage and verify sustainability of biomass and bioenergy
supply chains in different conditions. Second day of
Conference highlighted stakeholder involvement with
a focus on biofuels based on several case studies that are
underway from different countries (Denmark, USA and
Canada).
Participants highlighted that sustainability of liquid
and solid biofuels production is under continued examination
and monitoring. Very often it is complicated,
depending on different views and perceptions of stakeholders
both within and outside the value chains and
sometimes the same system provide a different results.
Barriers to mobilizing bioenergy supply chains are not
only due to the technologies and economics but also in
institutional development. Lessons learned generally
show that almost all significant bioenergy developments
have political background which is necessary. Policies
need to be coordinated across different and wide areas
(e.g., forestry, agriculture, energy, environment, and climate
change). Comprehensive and scientific guidelines,
regulations and standards must ensure that increased
biomass outputs respect sustainability considerations,
which also need to be better understood.