Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels

UNEP is working with the Roundtable of Sustainable Biofuels (RSB), an initiative hosted by the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne. The RSB process brings together a large variety of stakeholders to develop principles and criteria for sustainable production of biofuels. UNEP is a member of all four working groups of the RSB (environment, social, GHG and implementation) and UNEP's Executive Director Achim Steiner is a member of the RSB's Steering Board.

A set of draft principles and criteria will be released soon, and will then be open for comments and review.

Principles on Sustainable Biofuel Production
(Rolling version as of April 24th)

Legality
1. Biofuel production shall respect all applicable laws of the country in which they occur, and all international treaties and agreements to which the country is a signatory.

Consultation
2. Biofuel projects shall be designed and operated under appropriate, transparent, consultative, and participatory processes that involve all relevant stakeholders'.
Criteria on Consultation

Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas
3. Biofuels shall contribute to climate stabilization by reducing GHG emissions as compared to fossil fuels.
Criteria on Greenhouse Gases

Human and Labor Rights
4. Biofuel production shall not violate human rights or labor rights, and shall ensure decent work and the well-being of workers.
Criteria on Human and Labor Rights

Socio-economic Development
5. Biofuel production shall not violate land or water rights, and shall contribute to the social and economic development of local, rural and indigenous peoples and communities.
Criteria on Socio-economic Development

Food Security
6. Biofuel production shall not impair food security.
Criteria on Food Security

Conservation and Biodiversity
7. Biofuel production shall avoid negative direct and indirect impacts on biodiversity and areas of High Conservation Value.
Criteria on Conservation and Biodiversity

Soil
8. Biofuel production shall not directly or indirectly degrade or damage soils.
Criteria on Soil

Water
9. Biofuel production shall not directly or indirectly contaminate or deplete water resources.

Air
10. Biofuel production shall not directly or indirectly lead to air pollution.

Technology
11. The use of any new technology must improve production efficiency and environmental performance in the long term and in all stages of the biofuel value chain.
Criteria on Technologies

To ensure that stakeholder groups that have difficulties in being heard through this process, UNEP organized together with EPFL regional outreach meetings:

• The Latin American outreach meeting was held in Brazil during Ecolatina, and with the financial support from Petrobras Meeting report (PDF - 200 KB)
  
  
• The East Asian outreach meeting was held in China during the Challenge Bibendum, with the financial support of Michelin
  Meeting report (PDF - 150 KB)
  
  
• The South Asian outreach meeting was held in India, at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, with the financial support from Daimler.
  Meeting report (PDF - 170 KB)

Additional meetings to collect input from and involve stakeholders in other regions are planned for 2008.

UNEP will provide the link between the technical findings of the RSB and the GBEP and other intergovernmental processes.

Related Links

Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne

Newsletters/Bulletins

September 2010 Bulletin

BioFuel for Thought
August 2010 (PDF - 1.95 MB)

Related Documents

Global principles and criteria for sustainable biofuels production
Version Zero (PDF - 171 KB)

Press Release (August 2008): "Biofuels soon to be measured by international standards" (PDF - 100 KB)

The Latin American outreach Meeting report (PDF - 200 KB)

The East Asian outreach Meeting report (PDF - 150 KB)

The South Asian outreach Meeting report (PDF - 170 KB)