Page 28 - Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

22 Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

increases in the majority of countries, relative improvements are overcom-
pensated by economic and population growth. These lead to an overall
increase in terms of absolute levels of material consumption, associated with
environmental problems including climate change and materials and water
scarcity (Giljum et al., 2014).
As it seems, this transition involves both the energy sector as well the
material and goods production sector and should combine new production
models with new consumption models oriented toward reduction, reuse,
and sharing practices.
If realized, such a wide-ranging transition will bring the world into the
bioeconomy era, one where well-being is decupled from environmental
unsustainable exploitation, and economic growth is not the only dominant
paradigm. Therefore the foreseen transition is not about doing the same
things in a different way, but rather doing different things in a different
way to get a better quality of life for the most and not for the few.
For this transition to happen, efforts are needed from all involved players:
researchers and industries which have to develop new production models,
consumers which have to adopt new consumption practices, and policy-
makers which have to develop a favorable regulatory and legislative environ-
ment for such changes to occur and deliver the aimed for environmental,
economic, and social gains.
In this chapter we will look closely at this latter element of the transition,
specifically assessing the impact that standards and regulation played on the
biofuel sector. We will identify pros and cons associated with such interven-
tion, aiming at drawing some lessons applicable broadly to the bioeconomy
transition.

2 Defining and mapping biofuels and their markets

Biofuels include any liquid or gaseous fuels made wholly or in part from bio-
mass ( Johnson et al., 2012, p. 2); as such, the development of biofuels as an
alternative resource is driven by a decrease in the availability of oil resources
per capita, the increasing costs and difficulties to reach oil reserves that are
located in geopolitically unstable regions (Pfau et al., 2014), and their socio-
environmental benefits associated with green jobs, energy security, and
decarbonization of the economy.
Based on the biomass used for their production, biofuels can be classified
into three groups: first-generation biofuels, second-generation biofuels, and
algae-based biofuels.