21st Century Regenerative Technology

1. Biofuel Buzz Term: "Verified Sustainable"

Biofuel Buzz Term: "Verified Sustainable"

2008-05-30 07:00

Craig Rubens - Startups

With the biofuel industry reeling from global outcries of humanitarian and environmental havoc, individual companies are trying desperately to make it clear that their biofuels are, in fact, green. To that end, Swedish ethanol producer and distributor Sekab claims to be the world’s first maker of “verified sustainable ethanol.”

Branding one’s ethanol as simply “non-food” is no longer good enough. You’ve got to give assurances of safe labor practices, environmentally friendly agriculture, social and humanitarian safety and (of course) substantial carbon emissions reductions with your biofuel if you expect the responsible consumer to fill up their tank with your green brew. Sekab is not only launching their own brand of ethanol but are pushing the entire idea of verifying ethanol for sustainability, an initiative for which they already have a web site.

Sekab says it took them 18 months to develop their sustainability framework. While the specifics of the verification process and its crucial third-party arbiters are still being established, Sekab has just gone ahead and verified itself first.

The framework does cover most of the big problem areas including child labor, deforestation and food security. The framework has specific provisions for fair labor practices, UN health and safety compliance, increasing mechanical harvesting, and an 85 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to petrol, from well to wheel. While there’s no mention of the most recent biofuel brouhaha over foreign invasive feedstocks, the framework does address all of the glaring sustainability issues currently facing ethanol.

There are other startups that have plans to push their technology with branded biofuels. VeraSun has been pushing their breanded “VE85″ in partnerships with rental car businesses and Coskata intends to market its “C85″ as determinedly non-food. Now Sabek will be one-upping them with verifiably sustainable biofuels.