The social, environmental and economic sustainability of biofuels production

12 March 2014: UNIDO Press Release UNIDO has announced the release of two publications that investigate the social, environmental and economic sustainability of biofuels production, with the aim of promoting investment in increased biofuels production.

1. The first publication, titled Biofuels Screening Toolkit: Guidelines for Decision Makers evaluates 74 liquid biofuels pathways in developing countries and offers guidance to decision makers on the sustainability of biofuels projects. The toolkit contains criteria for decision making on, among others: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; biodiversity; soil protection; land productivity and resource management; food security; land tenure; gender; labor conditions; cost-benefits; and life-cycle costs.
2. The second publication addresses the Impacts of Biofuel Production Case Studies: Mozambique, Argentina and Ukraine and considers sustainability impacts of scaling up production of biofuels for transport in contexts of varied industrial development. It investigates land availability as well as environmental, social and economic impacts of biofuels projects, and offers best practice recommendations in over a dozen areas.

The publications were developed as part of a Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project, titled 'Global Assessments and Guidelines for Sustainable Liquid Biofuel Production in Developing Countries.' They were written in collaboration with the FAO, UNEP and three German research institutes, namely IFEU Heidelberg, Utrecht University and Öko-Institut.