Monitoring Sustainability Certification of Bioenergy: Impacts of sustainability certification on bioenergy markets and trade

Abstract

At present numerous biomass and biofuel sustainability certification schemes are being developed or implemented by a variety of private and public organisations. Schemes are applicable to different feedstock production sectors (forests, agricultural crops), different bioenergy products (wood chips, pellets, ethanol, biodiesel, electricity), and whole or segments of supply chains. There are multiple challenges associated with the current status of sustainability certification, i.e. the proliferation of schemes has lead to – to name a few – confusion among actors involved, market distortion and trade barriers, an increase of commodity costs, questions on the adequacy of systems in place and how to develop systems that are effective and cost-efficient.