The Global Bioenergy Partnership Sustainability Indicators For Bioenergy

In 2011, the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP), an initiative composed by over 50 governments and 26 International Organizations, published a set of 24 sustainability indicators for bioenergy. The indicators contain descriptions and annotated methodologies to guide countries in assessing the sustainability of their domestic bioenergy production and use. In 2014, FAO published reports on the pilot testing of the GBEP Indicators carried out between 2012 and 2014 in Colombia and Indonesia. The reports highlighted the opportunities and challenges of the main bioenergy value chains of the beneficiary countries, palm oil biodiesel and sugarcane ethanol in the Latin American country, and palm oil biodiesel in Indonesia. This paper discusses the outcomes of this exercise and the actions to enhance the sustainability of the value chain, with specific focus on palm oil biodiesel in Indonesia. These actions include technical and financial support for the enhancement of independent smallholders' productivity through higher yielding varieties and improved management practices, and for the uptake of technologies to capture methane emissions and produce biogas from the wastewater of palm oil processing. These actions and the related benefits and challenges are discussed in detail in the final part of this paper.