Page 31 - Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

Biofuel transitions 25

are considerably higher (45,000 liters of biodiesel/ha) compared to yields of
oilseed crops (only 1500 liters of biodiesel/ha from rapeseed and 2500 liters
of bioethanol/ha from maize) (EC et al., 2015).
Countries, both from developed and developing regions, have engaged
dynamically in the development and deployment of biofuels. In particular,
the United States, the EU, Brazil, China, and Canada contribute to the
majority of biofuels world trade (UNCTAD, 2016). Yet, the trade share
of each country is highly dependent on tariff barriers, for example, India
has established high imports tariffs to protect domestic agriculture and bio-
fuel industries, while OECD countries have imposed low import tariffs
(Timilsina and Shrestha, 2010). In addition, also sustainability regulatory
measures have limited the trade of biofuels, for example, the EU sustainabil-
ity criteria for imported palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia. All in all, bio-
fuels global trade is expected to increase in the near future due to an increase
in production and a decrease in production costs. Biofuels production has
the potential to cover the rapidly increasing demand for transport biofuels,
which will reach more than a quarter of the total transport fuel by 2050
(EC et al., 2015). This overview on biofuels production shows a supremacy
in the production and trade of first-generation biofuels, which are however
characterized by relevant sustainability issues (to be discussed in session 3),
and call for policies, regulations, and standards (to be discussed in session 4).

3 Economic, social, and environmental issues associated
with biofuels (production and consumption)
While the need for a sustainable economic growth that does not rely heavily
on fossil-based resources remains the main driver for the development of
biofuels, and of bioeconomy in general, their large (industrial) scale diffusion
is not exempt from socioeconomic and environmental issues.
On the one hand, biofuels contribute to economic, social, and environ-
mental sustainability. Indeed, biofuels guarantee energy security by repla-
cing the scarce resources of fossil fuels and providing domestic sources of
fuel instead of imported ones with increasing costs of exploitation. In addi-
tion, biofuels have a great potential to reduce lifecycle GHG emissions with
respect to conventional fuels (Moioli et al., 2018); this happens particularly
for second and third generation biofuels which use feedstock produced in
marginal lands or waste biomass (Huang et al., 2013).
Moreover, the development of biofuels could generate important socio-
economic benefits for rural and local economies. Since biomass availability is