Advanced liquid biofuels for net zero – How to ensure sustainable and responsible sourcing in supply chains?
On Wednesday 26 October 2022, in collaboration with the Markets and Trade Division (EST) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Biofuture Campaign, GBEP hosted a webinar on “Advanced liquid biofuels for net zero – How to ensure sustainable and responsible sourcing in supply chains?”.
The webinar introduced and explained the concepts of sustainable and responsible sourcing in global agricultural supply chains, and how this relates to the advanced biofuel sector. It explored the various challenges and opportunities for risk-based due diligence to improve the sustainability of the sector. The event brought together speakers from IEA, IRENA, USDoE, ENI and KLM to discuss around advanced liquid biofuels, their role in Net Zero scenarios, and sustainable and responsible sourcing in agricultural supply chains to achieve better sustainable development outcomes.
Here are some of the key points raised during the panel discussion.
The advanced liquid biofuel industry is rapidly growing in various regions, together with its market and trade. Thus, the topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant. To mainstream sustainable sourcing, cooperation among industry and legislators is crucial. On the one hand, a comprehensive policy framework is a necessity to support governance of advanced liquid biofuel sourcing; this must include sustainability-based target setting, regulations and certifications. On the other hand, cross-sectoral coordination with stakeholders is an asset, as the industry is a tremendous source of primary data, measurements and case studies, which are essential to develop informed policy making. Hereby, enforcing transparency would allow the development of accessible data platforms, analyses of the entire resource base, as well as monitoring used and unused lands. A sustainable, controlled and transparent transition does not only stimulate countries’ decarbonisation strategies, spurring the restoration of marginal and degraded lands, and the creation of a circular value chain.
Responsible sourcing can also secure a sustainable feedstock supply to companies and fulfill their energy demand, while developing the agricultural sector and offering new income sources to farmers, giving them the opportunity to become active stakeholders. Hereby, the topic of sustainability is not limited to emission concerns, but comprises issues of land-use change, legality, and human and labor rights. As such, enforcing regulations, and holding every agent responsible and accountable is paramount. In fact, even the end-user has the responsibility to ensure that the acquired advanced liquid biofuel has been sourced responsibly, with low life-cycle CO2 emissions, fulfilling certification standards, and without competing with food or animal feed production. As a matter of fact, a shift by consumers can influence an industry even more than legislation, promoting production and adoption of responsibly sourced biofuels to fulfil consumer demand, even in the most hard-to-decarbonize industries. However, industry transition must be governed carefully through regulations, certifications and enforcement, based on sustainability assessments, communication, transparency, and community engagement.
In rapidly expanding sectors such as the advanced liquid biofuel industry, sustainably governing growth is paramount. Regulations and certifications are key tools to ensure a sustainable sourcing of advanced liquid biofuels. Nevertheless, governance goes beyond legal frameworks, and also requires monitoring the variety of systems that may exist, and involvement by all stakeholders. Producers and companies are key for an industry commitment towards sustainable sourcing, and for the quantity and quality of real data they can provide. Consumers have the power to direct suppliers towards sustainably sourced biofuels. Engaging the community, for example in partnerships, is fundamental to raise awareness around advanced liquid biofuels, and to establish a recycling culture involving consumers, producers and households.
