TECHNOLOGY SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT: BIOTSA CASE

1. TECHNOLOGY SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT:BIOTSA CASE Josephine K Musango ERC Colloquium 31 July 2012

2. Introduction • The goal of technology assessment is to generate policy options for societal problems • Can technology, which has economic and societal benefits, also liberate the environment from human impact? • Can technology decouple goods and services from demands on planetary resources? • Can technology do the following to the economy?: • dematerialize • decarbonize • Are the net impacts of technology positive or negative?

3. Technology sustainability assessment.. Lack of clear criteria for conducting proper assessment TA concept treated as universal – strongly tied with western world TA focuses mainly on impacts or outcomes of the technology TA has relatively poor disciplinary coordination and integration Most TA do not take account of holistic view – static in nature No formal TA practice to support energy policy formulation Application of sustainability based criteria is not common in TA or decision-making

4. Technology sustainability assessment.. • Who? • Scientists, industry, policy makers, NGO’S, Civil society… • Why? • “How can the contribution of technology development for sustainability be improved?” • What? • Dialogues among the science, policy and development communities

5. SATSAframework • Inherently dynamic process • Societal worldviews and values • Long term future orientation • Uncertain • Dynamic • Systemic • Cumulative • Multi-domain problems • Differential & difference • Time and time evolution

6. Methodologicalframework

7. BIOTSA model Assess the impact of proposed biodiesel production development on selected sustainability indicators in the Eastern Cape

8. study area

9. Stakeholders in biodiesel production

10. Step 1: Identified needs for biodiesel production • Addressing rural poverty • Rural development and black economic empowerment • Job creation particularly in the feedstock production

11. Step 1: Identified sustainability indicators

12. Step 2: system dynamics modelling - BIOTSA • BIOTSA model divided into eleven sub-models that provide outputs for the sustainability indicators Employment biodiesel plant Land GDP Biodiesel production Water Population Cost of operation Community perception Emissions Electricity demand Biodiesel profitability Social indicators Economic indicators Environmental indicators

14. Baseline results: economic indicators

15. Baseline results: social indicators

16. Baseline results: environmental indicators

17. scenario results: perception, support, by-productuse

18. BIOTSA model limitations

19. BIOTSA value chain insights

20. Conclusion • SATSA serves as a framework for science to promote a transdisciplinary approach, hence linking science-policy-business and society divide • SATSA has a potential for application in other technology development • No single strategy is capable of improving performance of sustainability indicators

21. Way forward • Targettechnology assessment on societal problems prioritized by stakeholders • Integrateappropriate mixes of disciplines, expertise and public/private sector in support of such problem-driven R&D • Link expertise and application across scales, from local to global