Civil society organizations (CSOs) are questioning the impact of biomass production for energy on land use changes, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental impacts including soil erosion and water quality, and food prices [22]. In addition, with hunger and food insecurity rising, some have questioned the morality of shifting land use, especially in developing countries, from food production to fuel production for consumers in the global North [23].

Biofuel-specific social sustainability standards were able to build on older movements that used the standards to increase market share for sustainably raised products, particularly those that took an ecosystem-based approach. Forest sustainability schemes often include criteria addressing environmental preservation, labor relations, occupational health and safety, resource use rights, fair employment, extent of forest resources, forest health and vitality, productive functions of forests, biological diversity, protective functions of forests, socioeconomic benefits and needs, and legal, policy and institutional frameworks [18]. Of the three general aspects of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental), the social dimension, such as issues of worker welfare and impacts on local communities, receives the least attention [24,25]. However, since biofuels for biomass require considerable invest­ment in the infrastructure for conversion, social sustainability requirements of government lenders, such as the USDA/Rural Development and the International Finance Corpora­tion of the World Bank, provide additional incentive for adherence to social sustainability standards.

USDA/Rural Development has no social sustainability standards for biofuels. The World Bank does. Its eight standards include labor and working conditions, community health, safety and security, land acquisition and involuntary resettlement, indigenous people, and cultural heritage. Furthermore, the first performance standard, assessment and manage­ment of environmental and social risks and impacts, includes social sustainability issues by requiring effective community engagement through disclosure of project-related informa­tion and consultation with local communities on matters that directly affect them. And even Performance Standard 6, biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources, states that where residual impacts remain, to compensate/offset for risks and impacts to workers [26].