A policy paper by Humberto S. Brandi, Romeu J.Daroda, and Taynah L. Souzastaff, of the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (Inmetro) (Brazil) describes the importance of standardization for transforming biofuels into an international commodity. The paper is published in the journal, Clean Technology and Environmental Policy (URL above). Recent reports indicate a global shifting scenario toward more investments in renewable energy, and this has been steadily growing at a steady pace. Many countries have instituted national policies to stimulate the production and use of biofuels (particularly bioethanol and biodiesel as transport biofuels). Some biofuel-producing countries like Brazil, are also taking steps toward transforming biofuels into a ‘full-fledged world commodity". However, actions by some countries to protect their domestic markets are reported to be "distorting the international market of commodities."

Domestic standards and domestic conformity assessment procedures are generally set up to improve production and promote international trade relations. However, these domestic standards could also act as "unnecessary barriers to trade".   In the biofuels sector, for example, some domestic standards are based on lack of information, such as in the case of ethanol, where stringent standards for beverage ethanol (for human consumption) are also imposed on biofuel ethanol (which is not for human consumption). There is also a "problem of lack of confidence in the analyses conducted by the laboratories. In order to overcome/reduce these obstacles, the authors recommend "the definition and implementation of world wide harmonized technical standards"  for biofuel products. These technical standards within an international system of metrology, could serve as "reference for safety, quality and compatibility", and may also be a "pivotal instrument for international trade.

The standardization process is said to be based on the complementarities of three "spheres": (1) a regulatory agency (which defines parameters and limits), (2) a technical standardization forum (which defines the needed analytical methods), and (3) a national metrology institute (which provides confidence and guarantee on measurements). More information can be obtained from their policy paper (URL above).

Researchers from Duke University, Arizona State University, Stanford University (United States) propose a new method for labelling socio-environmental impacts of consumer products which can be considered as an improvement to the currently used "ecolabelling" method. Biofuels could also have this type of labeling. The proposed method (which uses a "multi-attribute"approach) is called, "sustainability product indexing".

The production of consumer products are reported to have associated socio-environmental impacts, some of which are (1 ) emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to production, (2) pesticide pollution, water depletion and deforestation (from production of some agricultural consumer products), and (3) concern about "opportunism" by manufacturing companies against workers in developing countries.

"Ecolabelling" of products certifies that a particular product meets a certain standard (with respect to environmental and social impact) and this has been used for many years to assess sustainability of production of many consumer products. The researchers noted from previous reports, however, that ecolabelling policies generally focus on a single impact area, i.e., a single attribute (for example, greenhouse gases), and may "create unexpected shifts in the behavior of the resource users that render the policy ineffectual at best and damaging at worst".

Using a multi-attribute approach, a sustainable product index could "capture " the socio-environmental impacts from a complex supply chain of production of a particular product, by having one or only a few labels that cover all impacts of production on the environment." The researchers provide an overview of this approach by contrasting the traditional single-attribute label versus the proposed multi-attribute sustainable indexing approach. Details are found in their published paper in the "Ecology and Society" journal (URL above).