The international debate on biofuels is mostly dominated by environmental and economic aspects while the question of how biofuels can be produced in a socially acceptable way is not systematically tackled. The project "Biofuel as Social Fuel" examines for two regions in Germany and Brazil the social dimension of biofuel production. Timo Kaphengst gave a lecture at the project`s kick-off event stressing the role of certification systems in biofuel governance.

Starting with some general backgrounds on certification systems, Timo Kaphengst gave an overview on the current state of the development of sustainability standards for biofuels and how far they are currently implemented in German and European legislation. Moreover, he discussed the limits and opportunities, standards and certification systems have in achieving a sustainable production of biofuels worldwide. Timo Kaphengst is member of the expert council of the project which supports the research with advice and background information.

His presentation [pdf, 498 KB, German] is available for download.

Within the project, the Ecologic Institute provides different inputs mainly in the context of European and international biofuel policies.

Further Link:

• Project: Biofuel as social fuel