Biofuels and their connections with the sustainable development goals: a bibliometric and systematic review

Renewable energy is crucial nowadays, and among the options, biofuels are evidenced as a promising alternative to reduce the dependence of fossil fuels. However, there is a paucity of works that discuss the real impact of the biofuels on the sustainable development. This paper explores the relation between biofuels and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), seeking to present the main challenges, perspectives, and current developments discussed about them. A systematic review was performed to explore, specifically, the positive and negative impacts of the biofuels production on SDGs. The results show that biofuels contribute to achieving mainly SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), but they also cause negative impacts in other SDGs that vary according to generations. Third-generation biofuels become promising alternatives to increasing sustainable development in this sector. However, they require more research development to reduce production costs and facilitate their commercialization. The gathering of limitations and perspectives highlights a range of opportunities to the research areas that can contribute even more to increasing sustainability in biofuels production and, therefore, in the achievement of the SDGs.