The Need for Integrated Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis of Biofuel Supply Chains

Climate change has been widely investigated by the scientific community, and its potential impacts are expected to affect the world’s economy, ecosystem services, and societal struc‐ tures within a few decades. To reduce the undesirable consequences of climate change, adaptation and mitigation technologies and policies have to be implemented. Analyzing technological advances to address sustainable development, through integrated systems lev‐ el methods and approaches, is needed to predict future vulnerability to climate change and continued ecosystem deterioration [1-4]. The incorporation of sustainability notion into all sub-systems of our global society has come into full swing and must be continued to be pur‐ sued by any entity, both in private as well as public sectors. However, these challenges re‐ quire integrative and transdisciplinary computational tools and methods to aid in embedding sustainability goals into corporate and government policy decision making processes [5-8]. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has been reshap‐ ing its strategies and programs in conjunction with incorporating the triple dimensions of sustainability [9].