A review of key international biomass and bioenergy sustainability frameworks and certification systems and their application and implications in Colombia

<p>Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) is a land use process driven by increase in land demand and mediated by the global market: for example, the increase in demand for a certain crop in a specific country due to its use for the production of bio-materials drives up the global crop price, eventually resulting in land use change in some other country. Since land demand is already high for food/feed production, ILUC often defines if the production of a bio-material is sustainable or not. ILUC is very difficult to observe and therefore it is usually estimated through models rather measured; different models depends on which part of the complex problem is taken into account: economic equilibrium models (partial, general), causal-descriptive models, normative models. Most of these models are static, <em>i.e.</em> time is not directly factored in the model. A study of the JRC showed that ILUC models have high levels of uncertainty, both within and among models, due to uncertainty in input data, different assumptions and modelling frameworks. The (i) lack of model transparency, (ii) lack of dynamic effects and (iii) high model uncertainties make it difficult to include ILUC in sustainable policies.</p><p>Here, we present a dynamic causal-descriptive model to estimate changes in land demand as a proxy of the ILUC risk, and test it when increasing the production of bioplastic materials on a global scale. We used a system dynamic framework to (i) maintain the model easy to understand and (ii) account for dynamic effects like delays and feedback loops. We also addressed the (iii) uncertainty problem by: (a) considering ILUC on a global scale only, (b) use yearly time step to avoid short-term economic effects, (c) identifying control variables to use for model validation, (d) modelling only the projected change in land demand and translate it into global risk classes in line with the approach pursued in Europe by the Renewable Energy Directive. The model includes the relevant processes that literature identify as influential for ILUC: use of co-products, competition with the feed sector, price effect on agricultural production (intensive margin), expansion on less suitable land (extensive margin), use of agricultural residues, soil erosion, and increase in agricultural yields. The model was, then, calibrated and validated using the extensive FAOSTAT dataset and then studied using different sensitivity analysis techniques.</p><p>The validation shows that the model 10 years projections are reliable (~8% error). Both local and global sensitivity analysis show that that the most relevant factor influencing ILUC risk is the trend of agricultural yields which, at the global level and contrary to what is usually assumed in other models, is insensitive to crop prices. Other relevant factors, interesting for policy makers, are the yields of bioplastics and the use of co-products. The analysis shows there are levels of production that have negligible risk in the next 30 years for specific biomasses and at specific growth and processing conditions. However, a full shift of use from fossil-based plastics to bio-based plastics would result in a 200-300 Mha land conversion globally.</p>

Biobased materials may help to achieve a renewable, circular economy, but their impact could be similar to those of non-renewable materials. In the case of biofuels, the indirect land use change (ILUC) effects determine whether they can provide sustainability benefits compared to fossil fuels. ILUC modeling estimates have large uncertainties, making them difficult to include in a policy aiming at reducing environmental impacts. The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II reduced ILUC estimate uncertainties by shifting the focus from ILUC environmental impacts to ILUC risk. Nevertheless, this does not take into account either certifiable additionality practices to reduce the ILUC risk for the production of biobased materials, or biobased materials other than biofuels. Here we propose a simple, user-friendly tool to bridge the gap between ILUC modeling and policy, by estimating the ILUC risk of biobased material production and to assess by how much different additionality practices can reduce that risk at different levels of the value chain. This was done by explicitly including the additionality practices in an ILUC model, simplifying the model to a spreadsheet tool that relates automatically the input provided by the user, which may be a producer or a policy maker, with a certain ILUC risk. We demonstrate the functioning of the tool on two examples: maize production in Iowa and in Romania. In Iowa, maize production is already very intensive, so the additionality practices proposed have little effect on its ILUC risk category, and the low-ILUC-risk-produced maize would amount to 0.03 t ha−1 year−1. In Romania there is ample margin for implementation of additionality practices, and thus a large potential to reduce the ILUC risk category of maize production, with low-ILUC-risk-produced maize amounting to 0.19 t ha−1 year −1.

Europe's faltering biofuel aims

Biofuels are one of the renewable energy sources that present an alternative ‘clean’ energy to fossil fuels. However, their increased demand and use has led to concerns about their impacts on sustainability and climate change. Regulators worldwide attempt to regulate biofuels and their impacts in their domestic policies. In 2018, the European Union revised its original Renewable Energy Directive (RED) to integrate both sustainability criteria and the so-called indirect land use change (ILUC) for biofuels. The crux of the matter is that the EU Commission classified palm oil as the only biofuel feedstock crop with a high ILUC-risk. Consequently, it cannot be counted by the EU Members in attaining their specific targets of renewables transport and it will have to phased out by 2030. Palm oil is one of the most effective source materials used to produce biofuels, but the industry has attracted criticism as their activities are linked to widespread deforestation and the loss of biodiversity. As palm oil is not produced in the EU but imported, this policy measure is likely to have a significant impact on trade. This article seeks to analyse whether the ILUC policy as an environmental process and production method (PPM) measure with extraterritorial reach can be contested as breaching World Trade Organization (WTO) rules of non-discrimination under Article III of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), and whether the measure can be justified under the general exceptions in Article XX of the GATT. palm oil, biofuels, indirect land-use change (ILUC), high ILUC-risk fuels, GATT, process and production method (PPM)

From the global efforts on certification of bioenergy towards an integrated approach based on sustainable land use planning

According to the European Union’s recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), the EU aims to phase out feedstock biofuels that involve high indirect land-use change (ILUC) by 2030, which includes crude palm oil only. Indonesia, the world’s leading producer of crude palm oil, contests this regulation, claiming that the classification of biofuels as being produced with high- or low-risk ILUC is discriminatory and inherently protectionist. This study examines the critical ambiguities of protectionism and sustainability, using a legal framework to empirically ascertain the nature of RED II and Indonesia’s institutional response. Southeast Asian palm oil and European vegetable oils (such as rapeseed and sunflower oils) are considered ‘like products’ under World Trade Organization criteria that emphasise product-related process and production methods. RED II has the potential to qualify for exemptions under GATT article XX. However, the extraterritoriality of RED II, which aims to reduce emissions, is contested, as is the unilateral nature of the ILUC risk measurements.

Sweetness and Power - Public Policies and the ‘Biofuels Frenzy’

Mitigating the risks of indirect land use change (ILUC) related deforestation from industrial palm oil expansion by sharing land access with displaced crop and cattle farmers

Climate change mitigation pathways have highlighted both the critical role of land‐use emissions, and the potential use of biofuels as a low‐emission energy carrier. This has led to concerns about the emission mitigation potential of biofuels, particularly related to indirect land‐use change (ILUC). This arises when the production of biofuels displaces the production of land‐based products elsewhere, either directly or via changes in crop prices, leading to indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We review a large body of literature that has emerged on ILUC assessment and quantification, highlighting the methodologies employed, the resultant emission factors, modeled dynamics driving ILUC, and the uncertainty therein. Our review reveals that improvements in ILUC assessment methods have failed to reduce uncertainty and increase confidence in ILUC factors, instead making marginal improvements to economic models. Thus, while assessments have highlighted measures that could reduce ILUC, it is impossible to control or determine the actual ILUC resulting from biofuel production. This makes ILUC a poor guiding principle for land‐use and climate policy, and does not help with the determination of the GHG performance of biofuels. Instead climate and land‐use policy should focus on more integrated protection of terrestrial resources, covering all land‐use‐related products. © 2020 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biorefining published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The European Commission has a mandate from the EU's Renewable Energy and Fuel Quality Directives to propose a methodology, consistent with the best available science, to address indirect land use change (iLUC). One proposed solution to the iLUC problem is the application of iLUC factors in European fuels policy – it is widely expected that should the EU adopt such iLUC factors, they would be based on iLUC modelling using the International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI) MIRAGE model. Taking the iLUC factors from IFPRI MIRAGE as our central estimate, we use Monte Carlo analysis on a simple model of potential biofuel pathways for Europe to assess the likely average carbon saving from three possible European biofuel policy scenarios: no action on iLUC; raised GHG thresholds for direct emissions savings; and the introduction of iLUC factors. We find that without iLUC factors (or some other effective iLUC minimization approach) European biofuel mandates are unlikely to deliver significant GHG emissions benefits in 2020, and have a substantial probability of increasing net GHG emissions. In contrast, the implementation of iLUC factors is likely to significantly increase the carbon savings from EU biofuel policy. With iLUC factors, it is likely that most permitted pathways would conform to the Renewable Energy Directive requirement for a minimum 50% GHG reduction compared to fossil fuels.

Content analysis of social and economic issues in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Many countries worldwide are increasingly engaging in the promotion of biomass production for industrial uses such as biofuels and bioproducts (chemicals, bioplastics, etc.). Until today, mainly biofuels were supported by European policies, but support for bioproducts is still lacking behind. Thus, also the public sustainability debate concentrated on biofuels, but so far not on bioproducts. Driven by the strong public debate on sustainability aspects, biofuels are confronted with many environmental and socio-economic impacts. For instance, social impacts, which can be both positive and negative, include property rights, labour conditions, social welfare, economic wealth, poverty reduction, etc. In order to address these sustainability aspects of biomass production for industrial uses, different national and international efforts towards certification systems have been evolving, including the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED). However, besides many efforts on environmental aspects, there is a general lack of socio-economic considerations. This gap is addressed by the EU-FP7 Global-Bio-Pact project in a comprehensive approach involving partners from Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The main aim of the Global-Bio-Pact project is the improvement and harmonisation of global sustainability certification systems for biomass production, conversion systems and trade in order to prevent negative socio-economic impacts. Thereby, emphasis is placed on an assessment of the socio-economic impacts of raw material production and a variety of biomass conversion chains. This paper presents an overview of socio- economic sustainability issues of biofuels and bioproducts worldwide based on first results of the Global-Bio-Pact Case Studies in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Europe, Indonesia, Mali, and Tanzania. These Case Studies investigate the whole value chain from feedstock production to intermediate and end products. They include the production and conversion chains of jatropha, palm oil, soy, sugar cane and lignocellulosic biomass which are investigated at different scales.

A consequential assessment of changes in greenhouse gas emissions due to the introduction of wheat straw ethanol in the context of European legislation

The present paper investigates the effects of metaverse on Pakistani women’s economic complexity and entrepreneurship. The data collect from 150 respondents from Karachi, which is technological and economical hub of Pakistan. The results of this paper shows that metaverse is surprisingly effect on women’s entrepreneurship & enables them to surpass traditional gender equalities. Women’s can participate actively in economical activities and overcome the social and economical issues in the metaverse era through their entrepreneurship initiatives or activities. According to the results, women’s participates in metaverse can promote not only gender equality but also contribute in economical activities in Pakistan. Notwithstanding, the results also find that women’s entrepreneurs still for several economical and social issues in the Pakistan. The results provide recommendations that it is encouraging for collaborative initiatives to overcome these social and economical issues in Pakistan, and make a entrepreneurship-based environment in Pakistan for several genders. The present results find out that metaverse have several potential to boost and improve the women entrepreneurs. The results showed that metaverse technologies changes the perceptions related to the women entrepreneurship and business, while acknowledge that, it is transformative experience for sheltering gender standards. The conclusion demonstrates that metaverse enhance women entrepreneurship and economical complexity, and provide many opportunities that encourages their advantages for empowering women’s and overcome their societal and economical issues. In the end, metaverse can help women’s entrepreneurship and economical complexities in Pakistan and enhance long-term and short-term gender equalities in Pakistan. At the end, the present paper provide suggestions for stakeholders, policy makers and also related for further research directions.

Three basic themes played indispensable roles in Reinhold Niebuhr’s engagements with economic issues: (1) the foundational importance of a theological anthropology for his critical assessment of complex social, economic, and political issues; (2) his focus on two clashing theories of economic order: Adam’s Smith’s doctrine of laissez-faire capitalism and Karl Marx’s revolutionary vision for the collective ownership of property within a centralized state system; and (3) his endorsement of a realistic yet viable alternative to these two classic theories, one that involved pragmatic and incremental steps toward fostering economic justice through the public regulation and oversight of a free-market economy. These pragmatic measures included allocating government resources for vitally important public goods and services at federal, state, and local levels. Though Niebuhr was initially drawn to some form of democratic socialism, he embraced this incremental strategy within the context of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s implementation of his New Deal agenda. My analysis of Niebuhr’s contributions concludes with attention to new challenges confronting contemporary quests for economic justice in a post–New Deal era, one marked Soundings, Vol. 95, No. 4, 2012 Copyright © 2012 The Pennsylvania state University, University Park, Pa di sc us sio n diussion