Le jatropha est parfois appelé « or vert » pour les propriétés de son huile, comparables à celles du diesel.

Due to a rising global demand for energy and expected fuel shortages, global interest in bioenergy is growing. Its production is booming, particularly in developing countries.

However, there is empirical evidence and a growing concern that these trends can negatively affect both rural populations and the environment. It may increase the competition for fertile land and water, jeopardize local land rights and access to land and threaten local food security. On the positive side, biofuels projects can trigger investment in the agricultural sector in developing countries, increase rural energy supply and create employment. Therefore, net impacts on climate change can be both positive or negative, depending on production and processing systems.

Sustainability standards
In the light of the current debate, biofuels producers have an interest in complying with agreed standards to maximize positive and mitigate negative impacts, and to minimize commercial and reputational risks. Sustainability standards are available for many agricultural commodities, such as sugarcane, palm oil or soybean, facing similar challenges. Most of these standards do not address food security and give little guidance on how to particularly assess land rights issues. The sustainability standard for biofuels gives high emphasis on both issues.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels
The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) is an international multi-stakeholder initiative launched and coordinated by the Energy Science Center at EPFL in Lausanne. RSB brings together farmers, companies, non-governmental organizations, and governments concerned with the sustainability of biofuels production and processing. The RSB has already developed a third party certification system for biofuels, encompassing environmental, social and economic principles and criteria. A first set of guidelines has been issued to assist operators to comply with the standard. RSB principles and criteria require amongst others an assessment of the implications on local food security, land and water rights and local development. Yet, these criteria and guidelines require further refining for implementation. To turn them into effective support tools for biofuel operators and to provide minimum safeguards for sustainability.

The draft guidelines have been pilot tested in 6 locations on 3 continents. The results of these pilot tests will allow revision of the guidelines, expected to be issued in mid 2012. Based on them, operators that apply for a certification will have to demonstrate how they mitigate any potential negative effects on food security. In food insecure regions, they will have to implement complementary measures that enhance local food security for the directly affected populations. With regard to land rights, operators have to assess, document and establish both formal and informal land rights and prove that they respect these rights. Moreover, they must not use any land until any legitimate dispute has been settled through free, prior and informed consent.

RSB sets a benchmark
In comparison with other commodity standards, RSB defines more specificly what a food insecure region is, or what a legitimate dispute over land rights actually means. As such, a certification will be based on clearly verifiable indicators, which makes auditing less arbitrary and more robust. It is expected that the new RSB guidelines will set a benchmark on how to tackle food security and land rights issues in commodity standards.