Sustainable modern bioenergy systems are those that meet the following criteria:

• Technical merit, including technological soundness and accessibility of technology;
• Financial and economic merit, including cost-effectiveness, sound cost–benefit ratios, and coherence with local and national development priorities; and
• Ecological soundness, bearing in mind that traditional biomass use is not sustainable; that modern bioenergy can be sustainable; and that sustainable bioenergy is always modern bioenergy.

SOURCE: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.