El uso de la biomasa, una discusión urgente

Bajo las nuevas propuestas de 'economía verde' destaca el uso energético que se le quiere dar a la Naturaleza, tanto los ya conocidos cultivos para usos energéticos -los agrocombustibles- como también el uso indiscriminado de árboles y residuos vegetales -la biomasa-. Presentamos a modo de una incipiente discusión, la problemática de estos cultivos y usos como fallida o engañosa receta a la crisis climática

El uso de la biomasa, una discusión urgente

Bajo las nuevas propuestas de 'economía verde' destaca el uso energético que se le quiere dar a la Naturaleza, tanto los ya conocidos cultivos para usos energéticos -los agrocombustibles- como también el uso indiscriminado de árboles y residuos vegetales -la biomasa-. Presentamos a modo de una incipiente discusión, la problemática de estos cultivos y usos como fallida o engañosa receta a la crisis climática

Development of triple bottom line indicators for sustainability assessment framework of Malaysian palm oil industry

The production of crude palm oil has environmental, economic and social implications. A sustainability assessment framework is needed to improve the sustainability performance of crude palm oil production in a carbon-constrained economy. The objective of this paper is to develop Performance Measures for triple bottom line assessment in the Malaysian palm oil industry, which includes Key Performance Indicators and Higher Performance Indicators for implementing the sustainability assessment framework. The Performance Measures of the triple bottom line assessment were built on the framework of Lim and Biswas (Sustainability 7(12):16561–16587, 2015). The measures were further developed through a participatory approach involving stakeholders and area experts, including Government, Industry, Academia and Local Smallholders/Non-Government Organisations. The developed framework presents a final list of Performance Measures, Key Performance Indicators and Higher Performance Indicators using a structured process and introduces weighting factors to the indicators to reflect the difference in the perceived level of importance. The calculation methods of the assessment framework were verified, and finally, the framework was tested using hypothetical data

Societal choice for climate change futures: trees, biotechnology and clean development

The rate and magnitude of predicted climate change require that we urgently mitigate emissions or sequester carbon on a substantial scale in order to avoid runaway climate change. Geo- and bioengineering solutions are increasingly proposed as viable and practical strategies for tackling global warming. Biotechnology companies are already developing transgenic “super carbon-absorbing” trees, which are sold as a cost-effective and relatively low-risk means of sequestering carbon. The question posed in this article is, Do super carbon trees provide real benefits or are they merely a fanciful illusion? It remains unclear whether growing these trees makes sense in terms of the carbon cost of production and the actual storage of carbon. In particular, it is widely acknowledged that “carbon-eating” trees fail to sequester as much carbon as they oxidize and return to the atmosphere; moreover, there are concerns about the biodiversity impacts of large-scale monoculture plantations. The potential social and ecological risks and opportunities presented by such controversial solutions warrant a societal dialogue