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Currently, the development of biofuel expansion is found worldwide. Any energy released from biomass through a chemical reaction is called bioenergy (Yamajji et al. 2000). “Biomass” does not only mean biotic mass or biotic standing stock in ecological science but also means biotic mass as an energy source because it has been considered an alternative energy of fossil fuel since the “oil shocks” in the early 1970s. There is no strict definition, but the generic term covers an accumulation of animal and plant resources, as well as waste materials from them, except fossil resources, from the view of energy resources (The Japan Institute of Energy 2009). Biofuels can produce bioenergy, but it is often thought to be a fuel for transportation and is in competition with food crops. The current biofuels for transportation are mainly bioethanol and bio-diesel. These are called first-generation biofuels. Most first-generation biofuels are produced through glycosylating, fermenting and distilling starch ingredients of maize, wheat and potato or through fermenting and distilling carbohydrate ingredients of sugarcane and beet. They are also produced from poaceous feed crops such as paddy and sorghums (The Japan Institute of Energy 2000 and Ohijiri 2004). Currently used first-generation bio-diesel is produced from animal oil and fat such as beef fat and lard, as well as vegetable oil such as (for palm oil), crucifer (for canola oil), soybean (soybean oil) and sunflower (sunflower oil) (The Japan Institute of Energy 2009 and Matsumura 2006).

Biofuels have been increasing in popularity, since they are promising substitutes for fossil fuels and are expected to contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Moreover, the production of biofuels is a means of alleviating poverty and developing both rural and agricultural areas. However, many researchers and institutions, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), voice scientific scepticism about the expected contributions of biofuel use. They also stress that the production and use of biofuels will lead to deforestation, water supply contamination and water depletion. The production and use of biofuels will have enormous impacts on the environment, the economy and the society. Clearly, these impacts are multitiered and complex. Therefore, strategies for biofuel use must be established through comprehensive analyses and scientific evaluations, with consideration given to complex socioeconomic issues, in order to achieve global sustainability. It is also important to consider that optimum solutions among boundary levels, such as global, regional and national levels, may vary and that these strategies must be coordinated in order to meet the demands of different optimum solutions. From this perspective, an interdisciplinary and integrated approach is best. However, many studies on biofuel, including those in the natural and social science fields, fail to use this type of approach. The aim of the present research is to comprehensively analyse the use of biofuels at global, regional and national levels using the sustainability science approach and attempt to assess biofuel use strategies from an interdisciplinary perspective. Sustainability science is a new academic area that addresses complicated issues, such as biofuel production and use, by restructuring problems and then proposing policy options.

In the field of public policy analysis, the concept of “stakeholders” has been widely applied to a variety of policy-making efforts. In particular, . In this context, traditional bureaucratic government structure endowed with the power of “command and control” is regarded inefficient anymore in the democratic and internationalized environment. Networked actors that undertake the functions previously performed by the government would replace the traditional structure. In this new “governance”-focused system, stakeholders, instead of the government, undertake the public sector functions. In other words, stakeholders are the individuals and organizations that actively participate in policy-making processes and take appropriate responsibilities of implementing the policies that they have agreed to.

In this chapter, the stakeholder perspectives described in Chap. 1.2 are applied to the analysis of biofuel deployment around the world, which will be described as detailed case studies in Part II of this book. Table 1 summarizes the review. Based on the review of case studies included in Part II, seven key stakeholder categories can be summarized as follows.

Because of the surge in international crop prices in 2008, production of biofuel derived from crops has been criticized for expanding crop demands and threatening food security. In the USA, where corn is the main raw material for bioethanol, the demand for corn has rapidly increased from 18 million tons in 2001 to 100 million tons in 2008. Further, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires refiners, blenders, and importers to use 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022, including more than 21 billion gallons of second-generation biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol. The use of corn as an energy source is expected to continue further expansion.

Fossil fuel consumption is a major cause of climate change. Biofuels can reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and thus reduce carbon dioxide emissions, because biofuels are carbon neutral. More specifically, the carbon dioxide that is emitted when a biofuel is burned merely returns to the atmospheric carbon dioxide that was taken into plants from the atmosphere by photosynthesis. Therefore, biofuels seem to be a very effective means for reducing these emissions, at least at first sight.

Growing demands for food and biofuels are causing deforestation in the tropics. Although the rate of deforestation is decreasing, it is still high and problematic (FAO 2010). Deforestation is mainly the transformation of tropical forest to agricultural land, and it causes environmental problems related to climate change, soil carbon sequestration, ecosystem services, and biodiversity. Reducing tropical deforestation is an international priority especially for the production of Indonesian palm oil and Brazilian soybean oil.

This chapter examines the social and economic impacts of biofuels in East Asia by analyzing four country case studies, Indonesia, India, China, and Japan. These impacts vary widely depending on specific country conditions. Analysis of the main policies and market conditions in these countries showed that they all emphasized rural development, and Japan prioritized GHG emissions reductions, while the others prioritized energy security. The biofuel promotion targets of India and Indonesia were initially overambitious while Japan’s and China’s were more conservative. All four countries investigated alternative feedstocks and second generation biofuels. Regarding impacts, all four countries have recognized the limitations of biofuels for energy security. Biofuels may have some potential to contribute to rural development, even in Japan, but this is likely to be modest. The idea of growing non-food crops on wastelands is not very realistic, due to the need for significant inputs of fertilizer and water. In any case it is not always clear how much wasteland actually exists, and often it is actually being used for some other economically valuable purpose or providing ecosystem services. Biofuels do seem useful for recycling waste materials, especially in Japan. The main policy implication is that caution is desirable, and high unrealistic targets should be avoided due to risks of food-fuel conflict and limited supplies of land, water, and labor, and because the extent of the impacts and social benefits of biofuels is still unclear. Modest targets, near current utilization rates, may be more sustainable. Finally, it is suggested to promote the use of sustainability standards, which could enable biofuel stakeholders to demonstrate the sustainability of particular production methods in particular circumstances.

Authors have conducted two case studies of stakeholder analysis on the utilization of sugarcane-based bioethanol in Brazil and palm-based biodiesel in Indonesia. Our research has focused primarily on the aspects of exporting these biofuels to Japan in order to give more concreteness to the stakeholder interviews. While these cases provide unique contexts in the production of feedstocks and distillation processes in each country, they also indicate common features that have to be considered in the policies, either at the international or the national level, for the sustainable utilization of biofuels.