The development of a set of sustainability metrics for quickly evaluating the production of commodity chemicals from renewable biomass is described. The method is based on four criteria: material and energy efficiency, land use and process economics. The method will be used for comparing the sustainability of the production of seven commodity chemicals - lactic acid, 1-butanol, propylene glycol, succinic acid, acrylonitrile, isoprene and methionine - from fossil feedstocks (crude oil or natural gas) versus renewable biomass. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.