Region-Specific Indicators for Assessing the Sustainability of Biomass Utilisation in East Asia

Sustainability

Yuki Kudoh⁴  Masayuki Sagisaka⁴  Sau Soon Chen¹  Jessie C. Elauria⁵  Shabbir H. Gheewala⁸  Udin Hasanudin⁷  Jane Romero²  Vinod K. Sharma⁶  Xunpeng Shi³ 

[1]Energy & Environment Flagship, SIRIM Berhad, Shah Alam 40700, Malaysia

[2]Asian Development Bank, Madaluyong 1550, Philippines

[3]Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore, 119620 Singapore

[4]Research Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba 305-8569, Japan

[5]College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna 4031, Philippines

[6]Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai 400065, India

[7]Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Lampung, Bandar Lampung 35145, Indonesia

[8]The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Centre of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand

关键词: biomass utilisation;    East Asian countries;    sustainability assessment;    triple bottom line;    sustainability indicators;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su71215813

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This paper presents the findings of an expert working group of researchers from East Asian countries. The group was tasked with developing a theoretically sound and practically implementable methodology for assessing the sustainability of biomass utilisation in East Asian countries based on the needs and potential of biomass resources in this region. Building on six years of research conducted between 2007 and 2013, the working group formulated a set of main and secondary indicators for biomass utilisation under three pillars of sustainability. For the environmental pillar, the main indicator was life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and secondary indicators were water consumption and soil quality. For the economic pillar, the main indicator was total value added and secondary indicators were net profit, productivity, and net energy balance. For the social pillar, the main indicators were employment generation and access to modern energy, and the secondary indicator was the human development index. The application of the working group methodology and indicators in sustainability assessments of biomass utilisation will enable decision makers in East Asian countries to compare the sustainability of biomass utilisation options and to make decisions on whether or not to launch or sustain biomass utilisation initiatives.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.