Book excerpt: This book examines recent developments in Latin American biofuel production. Taking “sustainable development” as a central theme, each chapter considers one country in the region and explores how biofuel production is evolving given concerns about food sovereignty, trade and other social issues. Environmental conservation, as well as an increasingly complex and globalized economic structure, Is also taken into account. The contributions to this volume critically explore the ways in which biofuel production in Latin America impact social, economic and environmental systems: the so-called “three pillars of sustainability". Numerous stakeholders, drawn from government, industry, civil society and academia have attempted to define “Sustainable Development” in the context of biofuel production and to operationalize it through a series of principles, criteria, and highly specific indicators. Nevertheless, it remains a fluid and contested concept with deep political and social ramifications, which each chapter explores in detail.