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Governance and legitimacy aspects of the UK biofuel carbon and sustainability reporting system

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  • Upham, Paul
  • Tomei, Julia
  • Dendler, Leonie

Abstract

Biofuel policy has become highly contentious in Europe. In this paper we discuss the governance and legitimacy aspects of the carbon and sustainability system of the UK Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), both before and after implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive. RTFO certification is of a meta-type, being built upon existing certification and labelling schemes, each of which are more or less contested by NGOs. Despite the RTFO being based on these non-state initiatives, so far the concerns of environment and development NGOs and others have not been given serious expression in regulatory terms. Indeed, biofuel policy development in the UK has arguably been unduly non-responsive to critical opinion, given the limited scientific base on biofuel impacts and the reliance of RTFO sustainability certification on non-state actors and schemes. Drawing on documentary evidence, interviews and three sets of literatures - co-production of regulation; post-normal science; and legitimacy of non-state certification and labelling processes - we suggest that until concerned voices are given a stronger expression in UK and EC biofuel policy development, the policy cannot yet be said to have achieved a wide social mandate.

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  • Upham, Paul & Tomei, Julia & Dendler, Leonie, 2011. "Governance and legitimacy aspects of the UK biofuel carbon and sustainability reporting system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2669-2678, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:5:p:2669-2678
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Les Levidow & Theo Papaioannou, 2014. "UK Biofuel Policy: Envisaging Sustainable Biofuels, Shaping Institutions and Futures," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(2), pages 280-298, February.
    2. Boucher, Philip, 2012. "The role of controversy, regulation and engineering in UK biofuel development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 148-154.
    3. Scott, James A. & Ho, William & Dey, Prasanta K., 2013. "Strategic sourcing in the UK bioenergy industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 478-490.
    4. Wilson, P. & Glithero, N.J. & Ramsden, S.J., 2014. "Prospects for dedicated energy crop production and attitudes towards agricultural straw use: The case of livestock farmers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 101-110.
    5. Berti, Pietro & Levidow, Les, 2014. "Fuelling expectations: A policy-promise lock-in of UK biofuel policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 135-143.
    6. Ngar-yin Mah, Daphne & Hills, Peter, 2014. "Participatory governance for energy policy-making: A case study of the UK nuclear consultation in 2007," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 340-351.
    7. Cansino, J.M. & Pablo-Romero, M.del P & Román, R. & Yñiguez, R., 2012. "Promotion of biofuel consumption in the transport sector: An EU-27 perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 6013-6021.
    8. Baudry, Gino & Delrue, Florian & Legrand, Jack & Pruvost, Jérémy & Vallée, Thomas, 2017. "The challenge of measuring biofuel sustainability: A stakeholder-driven approach applied to the French case," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 933-947.
    9. Bridge, Gavin & Bouzarovski, Stefan & Bradshaw, Michael & Eyre, Nick, 2013. "Geographies of energy transition: Space, place and the low-carbon economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 331-340.

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    Keywords

    Biofuels Governance Legitimacy;

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