Sustainability

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Bioenergy > Issues > Sustainability

Panel of experts debates the sustainability of bioenergy at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., 12 January 2010.

What is sustainability?

• Sustainability refers to the capability of complex systems to maintain themselves over time.
• When used in the context of human activity, sustainability usually has three aspects: social, economic and environmental.
• All three aspects must be met if something is to be considered truly sustainable.
  • Anything which protects the environment by driving people into poverty, or something that supports the economy while undermining environmental services, will inevitably collapse, often with devastating consequences for people today and future generations.
  • While nothing can be sustained forever, ecosystems, including those with humans, have maintained themselves for tens of thousands of years.

Sustainability and bioenergy

Topics:

• Sustainability concerns of bioenergy
• Sustainability standards
  • Better Sugarcane Initiative
  • Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels
  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

Measuring and Monitoring

• Modeling
• Mapping

Events

Note: Also see events listed on the BioenergyWiki page Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels.

2010

• 24-26 February 2010, Delft, The Netherlands: European Convention of the Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project. Organized by the Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project. (Themes: bioenergy, sustainability)
  • "This is the first of a series of 5 conventions aiming to provide guidance on the feasibility of sustainable bioenergy production on a large scale as well as implementation paths and policies that foster this outcome."[1]

• 15-16 March 2010, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: BioPower Generation. Co-located with World Biofuels Markets event. (Themes: biomass, biopower, sustainability, technologies, wood-based biomass production)

• 15-17 March 2010, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: World Biofuels Markets. (Themes: aviation, biodiesel, ethanol, feedstocks, ILUC, next-generation feedstocks, standards, sustainability)
  • Includes a "Sustainable Biofuels Awards" evening.

• 30-31 March 2010, Alexandria, Virginia (Washington, D.C. area), USA: Biomass 2010. Annual Department of Energy conference. (Themes: biomass, bioproducts, biorefineries, green economy, infrastructure, research, rural development, sustainability)

• 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France: 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition. (Themes: biomass, policies, second generation biofuels, sustainability)

• 13-14 May 2010, London, UK: Forestry, Biomass and Sustainability. (Themes: biofuels, biomass, carbon offset, forestry, REDD, sustainability)

• 30 June - 1 July 2010, Brussels, Belgium: 2010 AEBIOM European Biomass Conference and RENEXPO. (Themes: bioenergy, markets, policy, sustainability, energy crops, wood residues, MSW and more)

• 3-7 July 2010, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology. Conference Theme: "Conservation for a Changing Planet". Organized by the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB). (Themes: conservation, environment, species, sustainable development)

2009

• 31 January - 1 February 2009, San Francisco, California, USA: 6th Annual Sustainable Biodiesel Summit 2009. (Themes: biodiesel, sustainability)

• 23-24 February 2009, London, UK: Sustainable Bioenergy 2009 - New trends in biomass, biogas and biofuels. (Themes: European Union, sustainability, 2nd generation biofuels)

• 28-29 April 2009, Singapore: Bioenergy Forum 2009. (Themes: sustainability, policy, 2nd generation biofuels)

• 5 June 2009, Bonn, Germany: Agriculture, land and climate change: side-event at the UNFCCC meeting Participants include representatives from FAO and ICRAF. (Themes: Climate change, land use change, agriculture, Europe, sustainable).

• 28-30 September 2009, São Paolo, Brazil: Regional Workshop on Ways and Means to Promote the Sustainable Production and Use of Biofuels. Organized by the Convention on Biological Diversity. (Themes: biofuels, Latin America, sustainability)

• 20-22 October 2009, Lisbon, Portugal: Europabio's European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology 2009- (Themes: biofuels, biotechnologies, sustainability).

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