[Sustainable-biodiesel] Press Release from the 2008 Sustainable Biodiesel Summit

[Kimber Holmes]

*******Media Alert******

Contact: Rachel Burton

Mobile: 919-444-3495

Email: rachel at sustainable-biodiesel.org

Web: www.sustainable-biodiesel.org <http://www.sustainable-biodiesel.org/> 

 

5 Years of Work Pays-Off Mainlining Sustainability into the Biodiesel
Industry.

 

In a dramatic moment at this year's Sustainable Biodiesel Summit, (SBS) the
National Biodiesel Board (NBB) CEO Joe Jobe and Board Chair Ed Hegland
announced the establishment of a "Sustainability Task Force" to address and
incorporate sustainable practices within the biodiesel industry. SBS
co-organizer, Emily Bockian Landsburg, of Philadelphia Fry-o-Diesel was
chosen to lead these efforts within the NBB. 

Recent headlines have assailed biofuels for a lack of sustainability,
creating more social and environmental problems than solving them. However,
for the last 5 years the Summit, which draws biodiesel professionals,
policy-makers, and concerned consumers, has focused on raising awareness of
sustainability issues as they pertain to the industry. Solutions-driven, the
Summit is a forum for developing and exchanging best practices to ensure
that biodiesel has a positive global impact on greenhouse gas reductions,
air quality, energy efficiency, biodiversity, environmental justice, and
shared economic development. 

 "It's critical that the NBB is tackling this issue head-on; no one can
afford to wait," said Landsburg. "Biodiesel offers a tremendous number of
environmental advantages, and of course there are ways to improve as well.
In this day and age, we all need to be evaluating our businesses through the
lens of sustainability."

This year the SBS delved into on-going industry efforts to create principles
and potential grading systems that define sustainable biodiesel practices,
specifically highlighting the work of the Roundtable for Sustainable
Biofuels (RSB), and the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance (SBA).  "It is a
tribute to the success of the SBS and the Alliance, that the NBB has
recognized the importance of sustainability for the well-being of the
industry and the future of the planet," offered Kelly King, co-founder of
the SBA.

"It is so gratifying, on a business and personal level, to see the fruits of
several years' evolution in the relationship between the Sustainable
Biodiesel Summit and the National Biodiesel Board," said Kumar Plocher, a
long time grassroots biodiesel activist, and president of Yokayo Biofuels.

"Many people in the industry became involved with biodiesel not for its own
sake, but to realize these greater environmental and social goals. Others
who are involved for economic development  reasons understand that the real
reason consumers choose this product is its environmental and social
qualities," explained Rachel Burton, a volunteer on the Summit Organizing
Committee and co-owner of a million gallon per year production plant,
Piedmont Biofuels "Either way, achieving these environmental and social
goals is the key to industry wide economic viability." 

 

 

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