Sustainable Development Dilemmas of Biofuels Research and Production: A Snapshot in South Africa

Global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions and the growing energy needs of the world, has forced the world into thinking differently about energy sources and sustainable development, giving rise to the field of biofuels. Research and introduction of new technologies do, by their very nature, look to bring about positive change in society. Often though, changes result in unintended, unexpected, unforeseen, unforeseeable and unaddressed consequences. It often becomes the role of ethics protocols to militate against these negative consequences. In trying to establish the levels of awareness among South African researchers and producers of biofuels, to the sustainable development dilemmas brought about by their work; the “Five Capitals Framework” and a research ethics protocol, research was carried out at three South African businesses, generating data from interviews and collaborating with data from company publications. The study concluded that industry was indeed aware of the dilemmas that face their industry albeit that it was not in the context of a defined necessary framework.