La sostenibilità delle agroenergie

In recent years, a wide debate took place, at international level, on the real sustainability of renewable energy from agricultural sources. The economic, social and environmental costs, arising from the use of agro-energy, indeed, could be so significant to nullify the expected benefits in terms of reducing the greenhouse effect and climate change. In this context, the European legislator intervened to include in the Directive 2009/28 on biofuels and bioliquids some sustainability criteria, which relate mainly to the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, the nonalteration of places of particular environmental value and the compliance with some rules concerning soil, water and air protection by the farmer. Compliance with the sustainability criteria would help to address the "environmental issue", but leaves open the question of socio-economic sustainability of agro-energy and, in particular, the issue of food-fuel competition, for which there is no direct involvement of the EU. However, the proposal of October 2012 which amends the 2009 EU legislation, although it specifically relates to the issue of indirect land use change, could be an important step forward in that direction. It promotes, indeed, the production of energy from waste and residues ("advanced biofuels"), discouraging the use of new land and the competition with food or feed crops