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The purpose of this paper is to outline a comprehensive picture of the coverage of various certification schemes and sustainability principles relating to the entire value‐added chain of biomass and bioenergy and comparing them accordingly.

A tri‐dimensional approach (sustainability issues; technical biomass conversion routes; physical trade flows) was developed for testing the coverage of various sustainability dimensions in different phases of the value‐added chain with the chosen certification schemes and sustainability principles.

Using the tri‐dimensional approach, a comparison of the chosen schemes and principles demonstrated that the application of existing schemes and the development of new ones have placed a major emphasis on the primary production of biomass. Economic and social dimensions related to biofuels and bioenergy processing and trade were either emphasised less or they were covered inadequately. In view of this, the schemes sometimes seem to ignore that the utilisation of renewable energy as such guarantee no positive or neutral climate impact and may not be economically sustainable, especially when bioenergy can often be more expensive than energy generated from fossil energy sources.

The analysis showed that the tri‐dimensional model is an applicable framework that could facilitate policy makers to formulate policies that comprehensively take into consideration the various sustainability dimensions throughout the entire value‐added chain, now and in the future. It can be applied to the future outlining and completion of certification schemes and sustainability principles for biomass and bioenergy, as well as in the testing of their applicability in the implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the most significant uncertainties for bioenergy applications, in order to identify factors determining the success of introducing bioenergy into the current energy system.

A framework is built for identifying the most significant uncertainties based on studies exploring the positive potentials as well as possible negative effects of bioenergy. The framework is applied to explore uncertainties of bioenergy-based transport fuels and heat and power generation through two real life case studies.

The results indicate that the most significant uncertainties are environmental and economic. Bioenergy applications have potential to mitigate climate change, but also come with negative environmental effects. Case studies show that operations in developing nations contain higher political/institutional and social uncertainty than those in developed countries, due to weaker regulations and enforcement.

The paper is part of an on-going research project. Results will be verified with stakeholder interviews and analysis. Further institutional analysis of the country settings is necessary.

The use of a feedstock with high environmental, social and institutional uncertainties will lower public acceptance. Acting in accordance to the law is not sufficient to ensure sustainability and additional, voluntary measures should be undertaken.

The paper identifies the most significant uncertainties for bioenergy. Uncertainties from social acceptance and institutional settings are higher in developing countries and acceptability requires more than following regulations.

Bioenergy from agriculture is considered to be a way to reduce GHG emissions and thus global warming and climate change. Bioenergy also presents other environmental externalities as impacts on air, soil and water quality, biodiversity, etc. In addition, bioenergy presents socio‐economic externalities as impacts on human health, social wellbeing, local prosperity, etc. These externalities must be assessed in order to enhance responsible politics' choice of the best bioenergy routes to support through incentives as subsidies or quotas. The aim of this research project is to enhance the political choice of bioenergy routes to support through incentives as subsidies or quotas.

From the literature review and assessment of certification initiatives, the paper has derived a list of environmental externalities, i.e. environmental sustainability criteria, and a list of socio‐economic externalities, i.e. socio‐economic sustainability criteria, to be taken into account in bioenergy routes evaluation. Environmental and socio‐economic externalities selected are interlinked and cannot be assessed in isolation. They are thus articulated into a qualitative model, which defines links between externalities and characterizes them into positive or negative correlations, and indeterminate relations.

From this model, it appears that many interactions between environmental externalities or between socio‐economic externalities from bioenergy are not straightforward. Many of them are time or space‐dependent. Agricultural practices vary from one region to another; indirect effects are far from being understood and assessed correctly, long‐term effects of climate change are still unknown, etc. Moreover, environmental externalities should be articulated together with socio‐economic externalities.

On the basis of the consolidated qualitative model, a quantitative model will be built. It will enable the monetization of externalities and their introduction in a political decision‐making tool. This tool will help politics to compare different bioenergy routes and choose the best according to their sustainability.

The quantitative model should allow the monetization of externalities and their introduction in a political decision‐making tool. This instrument will help politics to take into account sustainability in their comparison of different bioenergy routes when they want to promote: employment, GHG emissions reduction, biodiversity conservation, etc.

To better understand bioenergy's role in sustainable rural development and cleaner environment, it is necessary to place it in a local regional context. This paper aims to provide a conceptual approach for biomass-based energy self-sufficiency in rural areas of developing and underdeveloped countries having a strong agricultural sector. It further provides a framework for the estimation of surplus biomass and bioenergy potential and the biomass power emissions in a rural area.

A detailed approach is laid out to attain energy self-sufficiency in rural areas encompassing identification of surplus biomass resources in a selected area, suitable conversion technologies, consideration of local end-use priorities, skill development and monitoring of the project.

Following the novel approach proposed in this paper a case study analysis for Thanagazi block (Alwar District, India) is done, and it is observed that locally available biomass in the block can substitute more than 75% of the conventional energy demand and save 78% emissions vis-à-vis equivalent coal power. This indicates that creating local bioenergy production system as a means of substituting/complementing fossil energy can contribute to a cleaner self-sufficient ecosystem.

Biomass is a spatio-temporal resource. Prior works have looked at bioenergy potential for national or state levels; however, granular data to reveal a more realistic outlook in a rural area is the novelty of this work. Furthermore, biomass assessment studies largely focus on crop residual biomass, whereas the present study also includes livestock manure assessment which is a major resource in rural areas. This paper highlights the need and the approach for exploring locally available biomass to meet the local energy demands for clean energy security while considering the involvement of the local population in bioenergy planning and implementation.

The authors aim to provide here an opinion on the state‐of‐the‐art of integrated ecological‐economic assessments of bioenergy under climate change, as well as the challenges along with their implications faced in planning adaptation at local scale.

Investments to reduce emissions must be made in the coming decades to avoid the risks posed by climate change. If these investments are made wisely, then costs will be manageable, stability in markets as well as energy security will be achieved, and even rural development and economic growth may be stimulated. The authors call attention to the need for modeling of climate change impacts by combining the outputs from appropriately designed crop simulation models with economic analyses. Combining natural science and economics in a compatible fashion at local scale will play an essential role in advancing communication and information exchange.

There are key differences in drivers or determinants of mitigation and adaptation potential and decisions at different scales, which means that different actors, different timescales and different spatial scales of decision making must be specifically considered. Understanding of the potential impacts of climate change requires disaggregation of the agricultural sector with appropriate detail. A critical trade‐off exists between area‐wide spatial coverage and an explicit consideration of local peculiarities.

The authors suggest that a much stronger effort must be made to meld natural science crop modeling approaches with economic analyses, to include spatially explicit consideration of conventional crop production along with 1st and 2nd generation bioenergy crops, and the evaluation not only of “best guess” scenarios of change, but also potential system impacts of extreme scenarios.

Agricultural food residues (agro-residues) receive low economic returns and experience disposal problems. The food production and processing is often not configured to supply agro-residues for production of bioenergy needed in food processing. The feasibility of utilising agro-residues through advances in postharvest technology for sustainable bioenergy conversion is reviewed. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Agro-residues from maize, sugarcane and potatoes in five African countries were assessed from secondary data to identify suitable conversion technologies, energy products and configurations of bioenergy plants for applications in postharvest food processing.

Strategic alignment of postharvest technology to bioenergy production systems is vital to advancing both food production and bioenergy that benefit rural communities in Africa. High economic returns are possible when the bioenergy plants are either annexure to existing agro-processing operations or operate as a biorefinery.

Assessment of energy self-sufficiency of food production and processing systems is required.

Agro-residues for bioenergy production require investments in infrastructure for storage, transportation and processing of the residues, and development of new risk management techniques.

The rural communities will be energy secure resulting in food security through reduced postharvest losses and increased agricultural productivity.

The study stimulates innovative thinking in establishing sustainable bioenergy systems for food processes.

Energy consumption in transportation accounted for over 29% of total final consumption (TFC) of energy and 65% of global oil usage, and it is highly connected to mobility. Mobility is essential for access to day-to-day activities such as education, leisure, healthcare, business activities, and commercial and industrial operations. This study examines the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. This study relied on previous publications of government, reports and articles related to the subject matter. Vehicle ownership is fast increasing, particularly in cities. Still, it begins at a relatively low level because the area is home to countries with the lowest ownership rates worldwide. In its current state, the energy sector faces significant challenges such as inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, dealing with increasing traffic congestion in cities, large-scale imports of used vehicles with poor emission standards that affect air quality in cities, a lack of safe and formally operated public transportation systems, and inadequate consideration for women and disabled mobility needs. Motorcycle and tricycle are dominating the rural areas, accounting for a substantial amount of this growth. Aviation is the largest non-road user of energy, and this trend is predicted to continue through 2040 as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows and urbanisation expands. This study revealed the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected SSA. Rail and navigation lag behind current global levels. The usage of biofuel and rail transport was recommended.

The purpose of this paper is to find out the views, concerns and opinions of stakeholders in Finland about the on‐going EU‐wide development of sustainability criteria for biomass production and utilization.

Interviews were conducted among Finnish stakeholders in the biomass sector which include representatives from government ministries, associations of industries and agricultural producers, research institutions and non‐governmental organizations.

The majority of Finnish stakeholders are in agreement that sustainability criteria for biomass are needed because of the expanding and globalizing nature of the use and trade of biomass. Finnish stakeholders generally agreed that they should actively participate in the development of sustainability criteria both at international and local levels. Administrative/technical, environmental, social and economic aspects were elicited as critical factors for the development of sustainability criteria.

This study emphasizes and puts forward the importance of taking stakeholders' viewpoints and their participation in the planning and development of sustainability criteria. This study affirms how Finnish stakeholders can strongly articulate their views and opinions about the sustainability of biomass. These views and concerns of stakeholders can be significant or critical inputs in top level decision making related to biomass production and utilization in Finland and in the EU.

This paper can be a position paper to highlight the concerns of Finnish stakeholders on sustainability criteria development. It also highlights the special circumstances of Finnish biomass. These concerns and circumstances are valuable information for criteria developers, biomass certifiers, decision makers and regulatory bodies.