Sustainability Assessment Methodology of Biomass Utilization for Energy in East Asian Countries

In response to the importance of assessing both positive and negative impacts caused by biomass utilization for energy, number of initiatives in the world are currently working on development of criteria and indicators for sustainable biomass utilization. Although there is abundant biomass to be utilized in East Asia, it is difficult to say that countries in this region are at forefront of those initiatives. In this context, in order to provide a decision-making methodology to evaluate sustainability of biomass energy utilization in East Asia, the authors were formed as an expert working group in 2007 and since then has been conducting researches to assess its sustainability with the concept of triple bottom line; namely, environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainability. In addition to the development of a methodology and indicators for sustainability assessment for biomass energy utilization, we have field-tested the applicability of the methodology in selected four East Asian countries. This paper firstly explain the methodology the working group developed, secondly the results and lessons learned from the field-tests of the methodology, and thirdly the latest works based on those lessons, aiming at comprehensive assessment of the sustainability of biomass energy initiatives at small to large scale in East Asian countries.