Logo 'Fair Fuels?'

Between dead end and energy transition:
A social-ecological multilevel analysis of transnational biofuel policy

Welcome to "Fair Fuels?"

What are the socioeconomic impacts of biofuel production? To what extent can these fuels be produced and used in a socially and environmentally compatible way? Do they make an indispensable contribution to the energy transition or do they instead lead to a dead end? These questions were solved by Fair Fuels?, a junior research group funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Key Results

Controversial debates on the topic of biofuels keep going on. Once celebrated as panacea against climate change, oil dependency and development of rural areas the positive impacts of biofuels become increasingly questioned. Still, biofuels receive worldwide political support. This contradictive development raises the question which role biofuels can (still) play for a socio-ecological transformation of the energy systems. In the book, consequences and developments of biofuel production/promotion and -usage in and between different world regions (Europe, Asia, Africa, South America) as well as their political regulation und discursive legitimation become analysed.

More information

This project was funded through the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s (BMBF) Social-Ecological Research (SÖF) program (promotional reference 01UU0905). On this website you will find all information, results and publications of the project summarised. The Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) also conducts research on the topics of energy transition and climate protection in follow-up projects. www.ioew.de

"Fair Fuels?" at a glance

Download the project leaflet (pdf, 2 MB)