Jatropha curcas L. (JCL) is an oil bearing small tree which is growing in arid and semi-arid climates. The plant is traditionally used for medicinal purposes, but is also useful to control or prevent soil erosion, as living fence, … and produces an oil which is easily convertible to fluid bio-energy that meets the American and European standards. At the moment JCL receives a lot of attention from project developers and policy makers, although there is only little known on which positive and negative effects this system has on the environment and on the local socio-economic situation. In this project a life cycle assessment (LCA) will be made on the bio-diesel production from JCL in small scale production units in the South. The LCA will follow the ISO standards. The LCA will result in the energy balance, the greenhouse gas balance and the land use impact of the JCL system in comparison to the conventional fossil based diesel production and use. The LCA will be strengthened with a socio-economic impact study of the JCL-system as well.