The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) has gathered environmentalists, industry leaders, and university researchers to develop the first international standard for biofuel production, according to a WorldWatch Institute report.
The roundtable targeted the many sustainability problems associated with growing crops for liquid fuel production in its initial draft report. These problems include unfair labor practices, diversion of food sources to feedstock and ecological impacts.
The roundtable is the first large-scale effort to create a global standard for biofuels, the report says, although similar efforts for specific fuel feedstocks–including palm oil, soybeans, and sugar cane–are already under way.
Charlotte Opal, the roundtable’s coordinator, said, "There are good biofuels and bad biofuels out there. We want to distinguish the good from the bad."
Proposed standards would require biofuel producers to consider the entire life cycle of their crops, plan for water management, create buffer zones for land conservation and consider social impacts.
Advocates and critics of biofuel are split as to whether or not a standard will do anything to reduce the harmful impacts of biofuel production.
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