The last few years has seen the interest in biofuels escalate rapidly. In part, this is the result of high mineral oil prices but it is also driven by concerns about climate change and fuel security which have resulted in strong support for biofuels from the EU, the US and China.

While it is clear that there is an urgent need for alternatives to mineral oil to combat climate change, and a strong desire in many countries to broaden the fuel supply base for security reasons, a number of potentially serious issues associated with an increased demand for biofuels have been identified.

The most serious include biodiversity loss when natural ecosystems are converted to intensive agriculture, adverse environmental impacts of production such as declines in soil quality, and water quantity and quality, adverse social impacts, such as workers rights violations, or pesticide poisoning, and increased prices of staple food crops (with resultant highest impacts on poorest consumers). There is also a risk that some biofuels production methods have such high energy requirements that they may actually use more fossil fuels than is saved by the resulting substitution of mineral fuels.

ProForest is working with producers, users, traders and policy makers to support and promote the responsible use of biofuels. Opportunities exist to implement safeguards and controls into the sourcing of biofuels, and for producers, purchasers and consumers to have a significant influence on avoiding or mitigating potential direct negative impacts. 

ProForest provides the following services:

• Developing appropriate criteria to define sustainability of biofuel production
• Training, guidance and policy development related to  sustainability requirements for biofuels
• Supporting companies to understand sustainability criteria for specific feedstocks such as oil palm, soyabeans, sugar etc
• Helping companies to understand and manage their supply chains
• Verifying sustainability of production via baseline audits, or revision of claims