Bioenergy production and sustainable development

A systematic review of scientific literature on bioenergy production and sustainable development reveals a limited evidence base for policy-making, with research concentrated in a few countries and focused primarily on agricultural biomass plantations. While economic and technological impacts are often reported as positive, social and environmental impacts tend to be negative, except for the direct substitution of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

• The scientific evidence base for bioenergy policy-making is limited, as research is concentrated in a small number of countries, focuses mainly on environmental and economic impacts, and primarily examines dedicated agricultural biomass plantations.
• Research on bioenergy production shows divergent impact patterns: economic and technological effects are more frequently positive, whereas social and environmental effects are more frequently negative, although the latter excludes the positive impact of substituting fossil fuel GHG emissions.
• A general understanding of impact attribution is hindered by wide variations in study scope and methodology, as well as a lack of sufficient reporting on baseline conditions and context in most studies.

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} }