Sustainable energy and climate change policy with respect to biofuels has become more and more important. In addition to offering a noteworthy alternative to fossil fuels, they also offer carbon reduction potential. However, increasing use of biofuels has led to new challenges in the field of economy, nature protection and social acceptance. Due to these new challenges, one important step is to develop a certification system for biofuels based on criteria of sustainability. Stephanie Schlegel, a Fellow at Ecologic Insitute, presented experiences with the FSC Forest Certification at the workshop ”Sustainable biofuels – How to certify?“, organised by Econsense.
This workshop was a collaborative event between Econsense, BASF AG and Volkswagen e.V., with the main intention to initiate the dialogue between representatives of economy, policy, science and social interests on the topic of sustainability and biofuels.
The lecture held by Stephanie Schlegel focused on the various links and synergies between the established FSC Forest Certification system and a potential biofuel certification system.
In her speech she particularly pointed out the FSC governance structure (three chambers system), the Experiences of FSC certification along the chain of custody and the system for deriving regiona standards as positive examples. Furthermore, she referred to the differences between certification of Forest Stewardship Council and requirements regarding a certification system for bioenergy.
The presentation is available for download [pdf, 663 KB, English]. The workshop documentation will be published soon.
Further links:
- Documentation of the Econsense Workshop
- Ecologic Institute Project: Public acceptance of renewable energy
- Ecologic Institute Project: Analysis in relation to FSC forest certification and timber procurement
- Ecologic Institute Project: Public procurement and forest certification