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ABSTRACT
As bioenergy production expands and new bioenergy-based technologies emerge, there is a growing concern regarding the sustainability of their ecological and socioeconomic impacts. Comprehensive sustainability assessments are needed to address this concern and to assure that the development of the bioenergy industry meets sustainability goals. Most sustainability assessments for bioenergy are expert-driven, broad, and largely motivated by an interest in optimizing international trade in bioenergy. As a result, social and cultural sustainability targets are vague or underdeveloped. In this study, we developed a sustainability assessment for a regional bioenergy production industry in Upper Michigan, using stakeholder participation. Semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings were used to elicit participants’ concerns and opinion. These concerns were translated into sustainability Criteria and Indicators (C&Is), many of which could be supported with available science. Some of the C&Is identified by participants were unique to the region. Sustainability C&Is were broadly categorized into economic (C = 5; I = 22), environmental (C = 6; I = 12), social (C = 3; I = 9), policy and regulations (C = 3; I = 13), and institutional capacity (C = 4; I = 13). While participants could identify indicators for most of the criteria (many of which are also supported by existing literature), further research and validation will be necessary to identify measurable, practical, and bias-free indicators for all criteria.
Acknowledgements
We would like to sincerely thank our participants for their time and insights. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and Associate Editor of the journal for their valuable comments and suggestions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The production system of a bioenergy industry may be divided into four key components: (1) feedstock production; (2) production plant (conversion and processing); (3) energy use, including distribution and consumption; and (4) decision-making and sustainable management (Lewandowski & Faaij Citation2006; Buchholz et al. Citation2009).
2. For tribal members, forestland is not only the part of their culture or heritage; it also provides numerous benefits to their livelihoods. One tribal member (who was a forester for the tribe) stated:
Our culture has lived off the land. Forest is extremely important for sustaining ourselves whether it’s directly like fruits, maple sugar, maple syrup … providing habitat for other animals that we have hunted for food, for medicines that we have used to take care of our people for a long time … crafts, some of the barks, some of the tree species … we use those for making canoes, making baskets, and making everything we use to sustain ourselves. So, it’s extremely important.
3. Voluntary incentive programs refer to non-regulatory and incentive-based programs that provide forestland owners the opportunity to retain and manage their forests for timber production and allow public access for outdoor activities like hunting and fishing (MDNR Citation2014).
4. One of the participants however, expressed concern about the ability of state and federal authorities to override local laws and programs.
5. HCVA refers to the ‘areas of forest or other vegetation types that have particularly high importance for social or environmental reasons’ (FSC Citation2010).
6. Participants cited several aspects of bioenergy production that should be monitored: the amount of biomass requirement for fuel production, land types permitted by legislation for feedstock production, types of biomass that could be converted into energy, need for machines and fertilizers, land-area requirements, and the technical and economic feasibility of these operations.