Sustainability

Ensuring the sustainability of biofuels requires socio-economic and environmental impacts to be taken account of across the entire value chain. In Europe, harmonised standards and certification systems are needed to assess the sustainability of advanced biofuels and foster their market uptake. To this end, ADVANCEFUEL partners will carry out an exhaustive review of current national standards and provide recommendations for their harmonisation at European level.

On this basis, the project will develop tailor-made criteria and indicators to assess the sustainability of advanced biofuel supply chains. As environmental impact indicators can be subject to high regional variability in Europe due to different soil types, climates and habits, ADVANCEFUEL partners will evaluate the potential environmental impact of biomass production for energy use at regional scale. Indicators such as greenhouse gases emissions, soil, water, and biodiversity impacts will be calculated at county level to identify promising regions for sustainable biomass production.

Additionally, ADVANCEFUEL will refine and upgrade existing tools for the calculation of potential greenhouse gases emission reductions, taking potential technological improvements into account. These tools will allow researchers, producers, suppliers, policy makers, as well as potential investors, to evaluate the compliance of different biofuel types with European standards. Finally, ADVANCEFUEL will assess present and future socio-economic impacts of biofuel supply chain activities, providing estimates for job creation and growth potential in rural or peri-urban areas.