Carbon Accounting for Sustainable Biofuels

The development of sustainable biofuels is at a pivotal juncture. They are recognised for their important role in decarbonising the transport sector – particularly for their potential to help reduce aviation and shipping emissions, and for their complementarity with EVs and energy efficiency measures in road transport. However, large-scale deployment of biofuels also raises concerns. The perceived climate benefit of biofuels depends largely on the carbon intensity of their supply. Thus, sound regulatory frameworks supported by transparent, science-based carbon intensity calculations will be required to attract the investments needed to scale up biofuel production. Using carbon accounting for policymaking purposes is further complicated by mixed reports on biofuel GHG emission results and the lack of consensus across methodologies.

The present study, prepared in support of Brazil’s G20 presidency, examines such complexities and discusses regulatory approaches for accounting biofuel carbon intensity across various regions. It highlights the main reasons for variability of lifecycle GHG emissions of biofuels and emphasises that impacts of land use change are a major source of disagreement across different policy frameworks. It concludes that policies need to adopt pragmatic approaches to foster verifiable and performance-based continuous improvement of sustainable biofuels