Location
Room 205
Start Date
4-7-2012 10:15 AM
End Date
4-7-2012 12:00 PM
Description
Addressing climate concerns and reducing reliance on fossil fuels has been a broadly accepted sustainability objective for decades. But, to what extent are alternatives to fossil fuels sustainable in themselves and what are the different legal or regulatory challenges and options in ensuring a certain level of sustainability of such alternatives?
Bioenergy or biofuels, i.e. energy based on biological material (biomass) is often being promoted as an alternative to fossil fuels.[1] There are many different types of bioenergy determined either by the type of biomass (e.g. crops, wood or waste) or by the type or purpose of use (e.g. transport, heating or electricity). In particular the “production” of different types of biomass may raise questions about sustainability. Well-known concerns are land use changes associated with growing of feedstock, e.g. food crops or dedicated energy crops. This includes both the direct land use changes (dLUC) by the direct annexation of land for growing bioenergy feedstock, and the indirect land use changes (iLUC) through pushing food and fodder production to other land areas. While the link between dLUC and bioenergy production is often readily traceable, the link between iLUC and bioenergy production is extremely difficult to predict and consequently also to regulate (Di Lucia et al, 2012). Not only environmental effects related to land use changes cause sustainability concerns, also social aspects, including food (in)security, malnutrition and poverty have been raised (Gamborg et.al, 2011). Such biofuel controversies have been translated into a call for “fair fuels” and the need to consider appropriate regulatory mechanisms (Mol, 2010).
Within the EU biofuels are being promoted through the requirement in the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive (RED) that 10 % of all transport fuels by 2020 are to be delivered by renewable sources, including biofuels. In an attempt to address sustainability concerns related to biofuels the Directive sets up specific sustainability criteria re. greenhouse gas savings, land with high biodiversity value or carbon stock and agro-environmental practices. The sustainability criteria are not mandatory in general, but they shall be complied with for the biofuel to count as part of the 10 % mandatory scheme of renewables for transport – the result being a hybrid regulatory model (Lin, 2011). Apart from the regulatory complexity the EU sustainability criteria have been heavily criticised in particular for not addressing iLUCs.
The EU is thus facing a number of legal and regulatory challenges in seeking to promote sustainable bioenergy in a global market. A key question is whether such sustainability issues should be regulated by law at all or whether it should be entirely left to the market? If we choose to regulate what are then the most appropriate regulatory options or instruments? Are transnational meta-norms an appropriate mechanism or do they reflect an inappropriate type of “eco-imperialism” (Lin, 2011)? Is the regulation able to address or specify all relevant sustainability concerns? And how can we ensure an appropriate and sustainable mix of instruments across global, regional and local level? These are some of the questions that will be discussed in this presentation.
[1] In this abstract bioenergy is used as the overall concept for biomass based energy, whereas biofuels is used in the more narrow sense as biofuel primarily intended for transport use (bioethanol and biodiesel).
Presentation
Included in
Legal Challenges in Promoting Sustainability- The Bioenergy Case
Room 205
Addressing climate concerns and reducing reliance on fossil fuels has been a broadly accepted sustainability objective for decades. But, to what extent are alternatives to fossil fuels sustainable in themselves and what are the different legal or regulatory challenges and options in ensuring a certain level of sustainability of such alternatives?
Bioenergy or biofuels, i.e. energy based on biological material (biomass) is often being promoted as an alternative to fossil fuels.[1] There are many different types of bioenergy determined either by the type of biomass (e.g. crops, wood or waste) or by the type or purpose of use (e.g. transport, heating or electricity). In particular the “production” of different types of biomass may raise questions about sustainability. Well-known concerns are land use changes associated with growing of feedstock, e.g. food crops or dedicated energy crops. This includes both the direct land use changes (dLUC) by the direct annexation of land for growing bioenergy feedstock, and the indirect land use changes (iLUC) through pushing food and fodder production to other land areas. While the link between dLUC and bioenergy production is often readily traceable, the link between iLUC and bioenergy production is extremely difficult to predict and consequently also to regulate (Di Lucia et al, 2012). Not only environmental effects related to land use changes cause sustainability concerns, also social aspects, including food (in)security, malnutrition and poverty have been raised (Gamborg et.al, 2011). Such biofuel controversies have been translated into a call for “fair fuels” and the need to consider appropriate regulatory mechanisms (Mol, 2010).
Within the EU biofuels are being promoted through the requirement in the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive (RED) that 10 % of all transport fuels by 2020 are to be delivered by renewable sources, including biofuels. In an attempt to address sustainability concerns related to biofuels the Directive sets up specific sustainability criteria re. greenhouse gas savings, land with high biodiversity value or carbon stock and agro-environmental practices. The sustainability criteria are not mandatory in general, but they shall be complied with for the biofuel to count as part of the 10 % mandatory scheme of renewables for transport – the result being a hybrid regulatory model (Lin, 2011). Apart from the regulatory complexity the EU sustainability criteria have been heavily criticised in particular for not addressing iLUCs.
The EU is thus facing a number of legal and regulatory challenges in seeking to promote sustainable bioenergy in a global market. A key question is whether such sustainability issues should be regulated by law at all or whether it should be entirely left to the market? If we choose to regulate what are then the most appropriate regulatory options or instruments? Are transnational meta-norms an appropriate mechanism or do they reflect an inappropriate type of “eco-imperialism” (Lin, 2011)? Is the regulation able to address or specify all relevant sustainability concerns? And how can we ensure an appropriate and sustainable mix of instruments across global, regional and local level? These are some of the questions that will be discussed in this presentation.
[1] In this abstract bioenergy is used as the overall concept for biomass based energy, whereas biofuels is used in the more narrow sense as biofuel primarily intended for transport use (bioethanol and biodiesel).