The RSB's Multi-Methodology Tool for Assessing Biofuel Sustainability

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels is an international initiative based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology developing a voluntary certification standard which seeks to address social and environmental impacts of biofuels.   After a three-year period of development involving numerous expert working groups and global stakeholder outreach, the RSB standard is to be released for public use in 2011.  The standard includes a publicly available software tool which allows operators considering certification to assess their own sustainability against the RSB requirements.  The RSB Tool also includes a carbon calculator which can calculate the carbon intensity of biofuels, at the project level, across the entire lifecycle of biofuel production.  The tool also allows for GHG emissions to be calculated using multiple methodologies, depending on the relevant region and applicable laws.  The different aspects of the RSB sustainability standard are presented, and GHG emissions using the multi-methodology tool are demonstrated.