A web-based questionnaire, 'Sustainability Quick Check for Biofuels' (SQCB), has been created based on the environmental impacts of various production chains of biofuels and feedstocks.

Biofuels are often considered as favorable alternatives to fossil fuels which would help achieving the target of a CO2-neutral and eco-friendly mobility. However, according to the results of a study carried out by Empa two years ago, not all biofuels are really sustainanble. Small producers of biofuels can only enter the global market of sustainable biofuels if the tools to assess the environmental impact of their biofuels are affordable. Therefore, certification schemes bear the risk that such small and independent producers will be locked out and that only international investors and large-scale plantations will dominate the market for sustainable biofuels.

The SQCB initiated by the Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs (Secrétariat d'Etat à l'Economie, SECO) and developed by Empa - is worldwide the first web tool for this kind of assessment and freely accessible. Users only have to enter the most relevant and best-known parameters of the biofuel production chain. Based on this input, a specific inventory is automatically modeled and linked to background data. The SQCB then calculates the greenhouse gas balance and a total environmental impact assessment and checks the results against sustainability criteria.

The environmental impacts of biofuels can be assessed in only six steps:

• Basic Data
• Cultivation Data
• Processing Data
• Social Criteria
• Validation Calculation
• Results

Background

Empa - in collaboration with Prof. Volker Wohlgemuth, HTW Berlin, university of applied sciences (technical implementation) and Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART (nutrient modeling) - developed and implemented the SQCB which had been initiated and founded by the Division for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. It is currently focused on the Swiss criteria of the ordinance on mineral oil tax. Other sustainability standards like sustainability criteria of the international initiative 'Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels' will be implemented soon.

Further information:

• Original source - EMPA Website
• Sustainability Quick Check for Biofuels (SQCB) Website