In an attempt to reign in the rush towards producing biofuels which is emerging as the latest threat to the ecosystem, even blamed for causing environmental damage, especially in third world countries, and believed responsible for pushing up the prices of food globally, the World Bank and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RBS) have released a list of draft standards on the sustainable production of biofuel production at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.

David McLaughlin, managing director and vice president, agriculture, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said the World Bank Biofuels Score Card was modeled on the WWF-World Bank Protected Areas Management Effectiveness tool. It rates a potential biofuel on a defined qualitative scale, based on a series of criteria that are key in the expected environmental sustainability of that particular plant and its production system.

The World Bank biofuels score card is divided into two key components. Component one is the must haves - attributes that the project has to meet absolutely otherwise it will not go forward. This component sets the minimum threshold levels of compliance around issues that are not easily remedied, issues like legal compliance, land conservation, land rights, carbon biodiversity, project feasibility, food displacement, protected areas and land tenure. These have to be rated on a 1- 3 score and even if a single issue had a zero score, the project will not go ahead.

The other component, project design and management, consists of processes that can be influenced, remedied and improved over time to ensure that production was bio friendly. This component looks at issues like how products are processed, wastes are managed and how water and soil are being used.

Consultant, for international network ENERGIA, Gail Karlsson presented the Version Zero standards for sustainable biofuel production to safeguard both people and their environment. Version Zero standards state that biofuel production should follow national government laws and also adhere to international treaties relevant to the production of biofuels.

The standards also say that the project should contribute to climate change mitigation, not violate people's land rights and should not impact biodiversity, eco-systems and areas of high conservation value. The production of biofuels should contribute to the social and economic development of local, rural and indigenous people and not impair food security.

They should be designed and operated under appropriate, comprehensive, transparent, consultative and participatory processes that will involve all relevant stakeholders. For new large-scale projects, an environmental and social impact assessment, strategy, and impact mitigation plan (ESIA) covering the lifespan of the project should be done through a consultative process. 

Finally, biofuel production should promote practices that improve soil health and minimise degradation and air pollution along the supply chain.

Answering questions on who would enforce the standards especially on national governments, McLaughlin said there was no global way of enforcing these criteria. He added that  the World Bank would oversee its projects. There would also be a move from conservationists to pressure governments to have independent certification organisations to ensure that standards were being met.

Neither of the presenters had an answer as to how the standards would be harmonized so that a common criteria was followed, but both organisations said that their criteria was not cast in stone and there was a public call for submissions to refine these principles to find a common standard.