Einen nachhaltigen Markt für Biokraftstoffe schaffen: Einige Fragen zur Governance

summary Creating a Sustainable Market for Biofuels: Some Governance Issues Ambitious targets set in the European Union and in the United States are shaping the evolution of the biofuels sector with regard to production, use and trade and creating concerns over sustainability issues. Setting standards and establishing certification schemes represent an attempt to ensure that biofuel production is perceived in a sustainable manner with regard to its environmental and socio‐economic impacts. Initiatives on biofuel sustainability have been put in place by national governments, international organisations, companies and non‐governmental organisations. The EU Directive on sustainable biofuels represents one of the first cases of application of a public standard for biofuel production. The emergence of different approaches to biofuel certification might create trade tensions that could be avoided through international harmonisation or bilateral mutual recognition agreements. Certification schemes might also be claimed to impose additional costs that would be difficult for developing countries and small producers to bear. Increasing biofuel trade requires a large effort in terms of negotiations on criteria and agreed methodologies on sustainability. A large interdisciplinary analytical effort is still needed in order to understand and measure the relationship between energy markets, agricultural markets and the environment as well as the interactions between policies.