Decision-making on the optimum transition pathway to an energy economy that meets agreed carbon reduction goals in the European Union (EU) by 2050 is challenging, because of the size of the infrastructural legacy, technological uncertainties, affordability and assumptions on future energy demand. This task is even more complicated in transportation because of additional issues, such as minimum travel range at acceptable impact on payload and ensuring hazzle-free long-distance driving in case of regionally varying fuel economies. Biofuels were the first viable option for a large-scale partly renewable fuel economy. E10 and B7 fuels have been successfully and remarkably smoothly introduced, owing to the fact that these are liquid and can be used in conventional combustion engines with little impact on full-tank travel range. In contrast, the decision-making process on biofuels in the EU has been particularly turbulent, with an initially favourable assessment changing into controversial. Here the compatibility between the fuel economies of member states and avoidance of disruptive social effects are considered as essential pre-requisite of a viable transition pathway. Rebalancing three different aspects of the social dimension of sustainability is used to demonstrate that a succession of infrastructures based on liquid fuels, with biofuels as an interlock towards an economy that includes methanol-based eFuel, has the potential to bring continuity, reduce dependence on anticipated technological advances and improve cost management. Awareness of this underexposed prospect of biofuel may positively affect the assessment on its role in a low-carbon fuel economy, potentially influencing the current decision-making process on biofuels.

由于基础设施的规模庞大，技术不确定性，可负担性以及对未来能源需求的假设，在2050年之前达到欧盟（EU）商定的减碳目标的最佳能源经济过渡路径的决策具有挑战性。由于存在其他问题，该任务在运输中变得更加复杂，例如最小行程范围，对有效负载产生可接受的影响，以及在燃油经济性各不相同的情况下确保无障碍的长途驾驶。对于大规模的部分可再生燃料经济而言，生物燃料是第一个可行的选择。由于E10和B7燃料是液体，并且可以在常规的内燃机中使用，而对整个油箱的行驶范围几乎没有影响，因此已成功且非常顺利地引入了E10和B7燃料。相比之下，欧盟对生物燃料的决策过程特别动荡，最初的有利评估变得有争议。在这里，成员国燃油经济性之间的兼容性以及避免破坏性的社会影响被认为是可行的过渡道路的基本前提。在可持续发展的社会维度的三个不同方面进行重新平衡，可以证明，以液体燃料为基础的一系列基础设施，以生物燃料为基础的经济体系，包括以甲醇为燃料的燃料，具有连续性，减少了对预期的依赖技术进步和改进成本管理。意识到这种生物燃料前景不佳可能会对评估其在低碳燃料经济中的作用产生积极影响，