Sustainability Assessment of Bioenergy from a Global Perspective: A Review

Jianliang Wang, Yuru Yang, Yongmei Bentley, Xu Geng and Xiaojie Liu
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Jianliang Wang: School of Business Administration, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Yuru Yang: School of Business Administration, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Yongmei Bentley: Business School, University of Bedfordshire, Luton LU1 3JU, UK
Xu Geng: School of Business Administration, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Xiaojie Liu: Institutes of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: Bioenergy, as a renewable energy resource, is expected to see significant development in the future. However, a key issue that will affect this trend is sustainability of bioenergy. There have been many studies on this topic but mainly focusing on only one or two-dimensions of the issue and also with much of the literature directed at studies of European regions. To help understand the wider scope of bioenergy sustainability, this paper reviews a broad range of current research on the topic and places the literature into a multi-dimensional framework covering the economic, environmental and ecological, social and land-related aspects of bioenergy sustainability, as well as a geographical analysis of the areas for which the studies have been carried out. The review indicates that it is hard to draw an overall conclusion on the sustainability of bioenergy because of limited studies or contradictory results in some respects. In addition, this review shows that crop-based bioenergy and forest bioenergy are seen as the main sources of bioenergy and that most studies discuss the final utilization of bioenergy as being for electricity generation. Finally, research directions for future study are suggested, based on the literature reviewed here.

Keywords: bioenergy; sustainability; climate change; carbon emission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2739-:d:161751

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