Quantifying the Challenges of Adopting Sustainability Criteria for Biofuel Production

IISD-International Institute for Sustainable Development

March 13^th, 2016

This paper was commissioned by IATA Executive Summary

In the forerun to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15) in 2009, the aviation industry committed to the following three main goals to stabilize air transport carbon emissions: improve fleet fuel efficiency by an average 1.5 per cent per year until 2020; cap net carbon emissions in the industry by 2020; and reduce its net carbon footprint by 50 per cent relative to 2005 levels by 2050 (International Air Transport Association [IATA], 2009). To fulfill these goals, the airlines have been strongly promoting the use of sustainable alternative fuels (SAFs) to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to fuel efficiency improvements.

As the market develops, airlines are pressing the importance of SAFs being certified as sustainable[1]. Producers and stakeholders along the supply chain are therefore in the process of adopting certification schemes for sustainable production practices to supply sufficient volumes of SAF. Depending on their particular circumstances (feedstock, processing technology and location, etc.), producers are faced with different challenges to meet sustainability principles and criteria while going through the process of certification.

Through interviews with producers who underwent certification for sustainable practices, a literature review on sustainability standards and certification processes, and personal communication with professionals from the aviation industry and academia, this study sets out to evaluate the effort needed to achieve sustainability certification and whether or not a particular principle might limit wider adoption of such certification.

Annex I shows an evaluation of the level of adoption of the most relevant certification schemes and frameworks for implementing sustainable practices in the production of biofuels. The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) standard is evaluated in more detail throughout the body of the study as well as it is considered to be the most comprehensive standard covering the widest and most diverse range of criteria among existing biofuel certification schemes, a characteristic of particular importance to many airlines. With this in mind, the RSB’s 12 principles were selected as an appropriate case study. Consequently, interviewees were asked to rank the RSB’s principles in order of difficulty of compliance. Four major issues were highlighted:

1. The lack of further flexibility and adaptation of some environmental and social indicators to local conditions may act as a barrier to the process of certification.

1. The failure to guarantee an established sizeable market or deliver a price premium for certified SAFs is limiting wider adoption of sustainability standards.

1. The process of certification for sustainable practices appears simpler for producers who rely on non-agricultural or non-forest wastes for their production processes.

1. Many difficulties in compliance arise from the lack of experience of auditors certifying against a fairly new certification scheme with unique social requirements.

Without further considerations of regional conditions, some indicators can act as limiting factors for wider adoption of sustainability certification schemes. Also, to ensure the availability of sufficient volumes of SAFs certified as sustainable, users need to create a secure demand to help justify the costs of certification. Otherwise, producers may choose to sell their products within other markets that do not require sustainability certification and have high demand, such as agricultural commodity markets.

To ensure the availability of adequate volumes of SAFs for the aviation industry and long-term economic viability, future research should consider supporting the development of SAFs made from non-agricultural or non-forest wastes. Feedstocks like most industrial waste gases and municipal solid waste exhibit particular promise in light of their reduced environmental and social impacts, as well as lower operating costs than biofuels manufactured from agricultural and forest resources (including waste biomass).

There are additional gaps not related to the certification process that warrant further consideration in any effort to ensure the regular supply of adequate volumes of certified SAFs to cover the aviation sector’s needs. Future research should concentrate on: identifying the challenges presented by the global sourcing of certified SAFs; evaluating customers’ appreciation and expectations about sustainable flying and finding a suitable claim that airlines can make on the use of certified SAFs matching those perceptions; and developing an online commercial platform to facilitate trade of certified SAFs to extend their use worldwide.