In person icon European Biofuel Certification: Governing Sustainability in a Polycentric World?

Abstract

Governance for ‘sustainable’ biofuels exemplifies the recent emergence of innovative forms of governing beneath and around bi- and multilateral schemes, as is manifested in scholarly debates on experimentalism and polycentrism. In response to the 2007-2008 food price crisis, major displacements of small farmers, and deforestation, several initiatives formulated ‘voluntary schemes’ to produce biofuels sustainably. The 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) prescribes minimum carbon emission reductions relative to the petroleum fuel it replaces, and prohibits feedstock production on land with recognized high biodiversity and carbon stocks, and on peatland. As proof of compliance, the Commission asks for sustainability certification for biomass-based fuel, independently from whether biofuels are produced domestically or abroad. This regulation applies to 10 percent of all transport fuel consumed in the EU by 2020. Since 2011, the European Commission has recognized 19 voluntary schemes, including: multi-stakeholder roundtables such as the RSB (Roundtable for Sustainable Biomaterials) and the RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil); industry-driven schemes such as the ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) and Red Cert; and company-owned schemes such as Greenergy. In addition, individual member states like Germany remunerate liquid and gaseous biomass used for electricity generation only if produced with respect to specific social and ecological criteria. In 2016, five years after the first biofuel certification schemes were accepted, the Commission will conduct a process of re-application of schemes. This panel wants to take stock of the first five years of biofuel certification under the EU-RED. Drawing on earlier debates on “normative power Europe” (Diez, 2013) and European leadership with regard to sustainable development (Burchell and Lightfoot, 2004), we are particularly interested in how European requirements for biofuel certification affect production in third countries (Brazil, Ethiopia and Guatemala). Most remarkable and questionable in democratic terms is that while the EU-RED stipulates quasi-mandatory minimum biofuel sustainability requirements (meta-standard), which are enforced on suppliers in third (non-EU) countries by means of state-centered power (the EU-RED market entry requirement), implementation is based entirely on private schemes. Yet, companies in biofuel chains are not simply addressees of regulation; they have (co-)defined the specific criteria that (foreign) state actors now oblige them to fulfill. The panel encompasses conceptual and empirical papers on the experiences and effects of biofuel certification, especially in non-EU contexts. It will address questions such as, which schemes have been successful in terms of uptake, and why? And how has certification affected local communities and/or discourses? The panel will also discuss the role of the state in a polycentric world and, in particular, the transformative potential of the EU beyond its own borders. Here the panel will ask, what is the role of the EU (Member States) vis-à-vis private actors and vis-à-vis third countries exporting biofuels? How does the EU biofuels regime interact with international organizations? Which transformative potential does the state (still) have? How effective are ‘mandatory-voluntary’ schemes? And what lessons can be learnt from past experiences for the post-2020 phase?

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