In the study presented here, ‘biofuels’ were examined with regard to various issues. Above all the question of the impact of ‘biomass’ production on ecosystems, the ‘sustainability’ of the use of biofuels, the search for alternatives and therefore the question of the future development of the transport sector are directly linked to one another. Discussions conducted in public, such as the food­or­fuel debate, lead to an increased sensibility to the way biofuels are dealt with and lead to very controversial views on the use and application of biofuels. Certain factors provide a tool for the assessment of the sustainable utilisation of biofuels. In the field of ‘ecology’, the points climate protection, conservation of biodiversity and soil­and­water protection occupy centre stage. In the field of economy, opening up rural areas for development, including job creation, as well as reducing dependency on energy imports is what matters. ‘Social aspects’ are mainly security of supply for energy and foodstuffs at reasonable prices. This results in a distribution of competences to the policy remits of environment, energy and agriculture. Processes, which benefit the introduction of biofuels, are occurrences such as global warming, world­wide scarcity of crude oil, as well as the sharp increase in price of energy and food prices, which attained their highest point in the Summer of 2008 – for the time being. All these are compelling factors forcing a re­think of the utilisation of global ‘resources’.

Proceedings of the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France, pp. 2253-2258