Roadmaps towards Sustainable Biofuels

The Secretariat is supporting the development of a number of roadmap processes in various countries, including Brazil, Ethiopia and Mexico. The aim of these processes is to support the development of sound and comprehensive biofuel policies for the countries/regions in question. These, in turn, will enable the participating country or region to avoid negative impacts of biofuel production and increase the sustainability of their products.

Towards Sustainable Biofuels in Ethiopia

castor plantEthiopia imports petroleum for its fuel requirements, and the demand for petroleum fuel is rapidly increasing, which is associated with its growing economy and expanding infrastructure. Imported petroleum products account for the lion’s share of the total import expenditure and absorb much of the total export earnings. On the other hand, the country has large amounts of arable land, labor force and a suitable climate for biofuel development. Biofuel development is therefore believed by the government to have the potential to meet a substantial proportion of the national energy need, reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels, create new business opportunities and contribute towards reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

The government has expressed a desire to work towards the development of sustainable biofuels, recognizing the potential for negative impacts – and has therefore entered into discussions with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels on how to improve the current regulatory system. The RSB offers an excellent starting point to analyze all the dimensions of biofuel sustainability – both from an environmental and a social perspective. The Ethiopian government has created a Biofuel Development and Utilization Directorate within the Ministry of Water and Energy. This body coordinates the work of the national Biofuel Development and Utilization Coordination Forum, which coordinates the work across the different government departments.

    The report includes the following sections:
    1. Stakeholder mapping: an analysis of Ethiopian stakeholders relevant to biofuel production.
    2. A regulatory study: an analysis of the Ethiopian regulatory framework with respect to the RSB principles and criteria.
    3. A roadmap towards sustainable Ethiopian biofuels: an analysis of priority actions and areas for improvement.

    Download full report (pdf)