Bioenergy production and sustainable development

This systematic review finds a limited scientific basis for policy-making on bioenergy's contribution to sustainable development, noting that research is concentrated in a few countries and focused on agricultural biomass. While economic and technological impacts are often reported as positive, social and environmental impacts are frequently negative, though the lack of consistent methodology and baseline reporting across studies makes general attribution difficult.

• A systematic review of scientific literature indicates that there is a limited scientific basis for policy-making regarding how bioenergy production contributes to sustainable development. Current knowledge is primarily concentrated in a small number of well-studied countries, focuses on economic and environmental impacts, and mostly concerns dedicated agricultural biomass plantations.
• The review found that studies vary widely in scope and methodology, with few providing sufficient reporting on baseline conditions or context, which hinders a general understanding of impact attribution. Despite this, regional patterns were identified across environmental, economic, institutional, social, and technological categories.
• General patterns in the literature suggest that technological and economic impacts of bioenergy production are more often reported as positive, whereas social and environmental impacts are more frequently reported as negative, except for the direct substitution of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2016). Bioenergy production and sustainable development. https://www.sei.org/publications/bioenergy-production-sustainable-development/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Bioenergy production and sustainable development. 2016. https://www.sei.org/publications/bioenergy-production-sustainable-development/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Bioenergy production and sustainable development |date=14 January 2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/bioenergy-production-sustainable-development/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2016bioenergy, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Bioenergy production and sustainable development}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/bioenergy-production-sustainable-development/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }