Impacts of Biofuel on Ecosystem Services: A Synthesis

The study evaluates the impacts of sugarcane and jatropha biofuels in sub-Saharan Africa, finding that while sugarcane offers carbon-sequestration benefits and positive socioeconomic impacts for workers, jatropha failed to benefit local communities due to market collapse and low yields. Additionally, the adoption of household ethanol stoves in Maputo was hindered by high costs.

• Sugarcane production provides significant carbon-sequestration benefits, making it a potential component of climate mitigation strategies, and generally yields positive socioeconomic outcomes for farm workers and farmers. However, it involves significant trade-offs with other ecosystem services, and its presence does not correlate with improved access to modern energy services compared to non-producing areas.
• Jatropha production did not provide benefits to local communities that compensated for the loss of ecosystem services, primarily due to low yields at the smallholder scale and the collapse of the market.
• The implementation of household ethanol stoves in Maputo had limited success despite environmental and user benefits, primarily because the cost of the ethanol and the stoves themselves was too high.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2018). Impacts of Biofuel on Ecosystem Services: A Synthesis. https://www.sei.org/publications/impacts-biofuel-ecosystem-services-synthesis

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Impacts of Biofuel on Ecosystem Services: A Synthesis. 2018. https://www.sei.org/publications/impacts-biofuel-ecosystem-services-synthesis.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Impacts of Biofuel on Ecosystem Services: A Synthesis |date=1 September 2018 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/impacts-biofuel-ecosystem-services-synthesis |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2018impacts, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Impacts of Biofuel on Ecosystem Services: A Synthesis}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2018}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/impacts-biofuel-ecosystem-services-synthesis}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }