Towards Sustainability of Biomass Importation: An Assessment of the EU Renewable Energy Directive

This book addresses the conflict between climate change, other environmental concerns such as biodiversity, and international trade, focussing on the relationship between climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection in the bioenergy sector, taking into account the specific situation for imports from developing countries.

The focal point is the sustainability criteria enacted by Directive 2009/28/EC (the so-called Renewable Energy Directive - RED). The document is divided into 6 parts:

• Part I describes the regulatory challenges of the use of bioenergy, considers the conflict between bioenergy and environmental and trade interests and also other environmental concerns, and introduces the sustainability criteria.
• Part II assesses the substance of the Renewable Energy Directive’s sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids and suggests possible reforms. It details how the substance of the criteria is intended to address the conflict between climate change mitigation and other environmental concerns, addressing the scope of application, the requirements on the climate balance as well as the exclusion of certain areas from cultivation.
• Part III examines the compliance control mechanisms employed to ensure that the substantial criteria described in part II are observed.
• Part IV explores the compliance of the sustainability criteria with higher-ranking law, specifically European law and international trade law, which form the framework under which the sustainability criteria have been enacted, providing both minimum standards and ceilings for the drafting of the criteria. Moreover, it places the sustainability criteria in the context of international environmental and energy law and assesses compliance in this respect.
• Part V summarises the results and provides an outlook on future bioenergy policy.