Identifying the opportunities to develop holistically sustainable bioenergy business

Abstract

Renewable energy solutions, of which bioenergy currently represents the largest share, are politically and scientifically considered to represent an indispensable replacement for the fossil fuel-based energy that is currently the most dominant source of energy. A major obstacle that impedes the sustainable execution of bioenergy expansion is the prevailing reductionist approach to sustainability that manifests itself as the focus of business economic sustainability-oriented eco-efficiency measures among bioenergy businesses. The development of an in-depth holistic understanding of sustainability bioenergy businesses could have the significant potential to initiate the transitions of bioenergy systems towards sustainability.

The objective of the research described in this thesis was to generate insights into the prerequisites that could underpin the development of holistically sustainable bioenergy business. The research questions were: 1) What sustainability themes, questions, methods and tools are related to the different approaches to sustainability that can be observed among bioenergy businesses? 2) What role do the common bioenergy business approaches to sustainability play in the development of a holistically sustainable bioenergy business? 3) What is the significance of sustainability in the local context in terms of the contribution bioenergy businesses make to global sustainability?

The research that was conducted for this thesis was qualitative in nature. It combined literature reviews with three workshops attended by Finnish bioenergy experts as methods for data collection. This data was subsequently analysed according to theoretical organising frameworks, which included maturity models.

This thesis describes bioenergy business approaches to sustainability through introducing the maturity model of corporate responsibility for sustainability and describing the bioenergy sustainability themes, questions, methods and tools that apply to various levels of this model. The common bioenergy business approaches to sustainability, compliance with legislation, business economic sustainability—including eco-efficiency—and pursuing compliance with sustainability standards and certification systems, serve as a starting point for sustainability work; however, holistically sustainable bioenergy business requires a shift from a business-first to a sustainability-first perspective. The local context is the starting point for global sustainability contribution if activities that contribute to relative local sustainability beyond sustainable limits are avoided.

The theoretical maturity models of corporate responsibility for sustainability and legislation maturity that are introduced in this thesis serve as a foundation for further empirical studies and could be further developed in more depth. In practice, bioenergy businesses should manage a large extent of diverse sustainability aspects. Managers should have a holistic view of sustainability in the company; however, slow and bureaucratic sustainability management processes should be avoided and flexibility maintained. The utilisation of personnel who possess transdisciplinary knowledge could help businesses to develop a better understanding of the multiplicity of sustainability. Sustainable change could, thus, emanate from the top-down and bottom-up in a bioenergy company. The first steps towards achieving holistically sustainable bioenergy businesses could be derived from the perspective of the common approaches to sustainability by developing more proactive approaches to requirements and by broadening the perception of the bioenergy system. It is anticipated that the legislation maturity model introduced in this paper will help managers to assess the strategies that are in use, more systematically select strategies, understand the spatial and temporal scales and efficiently allocate resources to the management of legislation.