Bioenergy and Trade

This report examines government support for biofuels in Indonesia, which began with the announcement of a new biofuels plan in 2006. Current policies supporting biofuels came bundled together with the Energy Security Act under...

The public debate on agrofuels changed dramatically over the past year. What started out as an intriguing proposal on an apparently innovative alternative fuel source quickly turned into an important and contentious topic of...

The aim of this publication is to set the stage for the discussion about both challenges and concerns of sugarcane ethanol by providing the scientific context, the basic concepts and the approach for understanding the debate on...

This report examines the historical development and current status of the biofuel industry in China, focusing on government policies to support production and consumption. The analysis forms part of a multi-country effort by the...

Since January 2008, international institutions, national technical agencies, and major international scientific organizations have released ten major reviews of biofuel policies. This brief summarizes their conclusions, which...

There are several explanations to the sharp price increase. One of the first rules of economics is that prices are determined by supply and demand, but the classical ideal market assumption and the fall of commodity prices in...

The State of Food and Agriculture 2008 explores the implications of the recent rapid growth in production of biofuels based on agricultural commodities. The boom in liquid biofuels has been largely driven by policies in developed...

In 2004 ITABIA drafted, on behalf of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea (MATTM), a comprehensive report on “Biomass for Energy Production and the Environment”, which not only provided statistical data on...

Today’s food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab. On the one hand, “food insecure” governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their...

The growing importance of biofuels is a major challenge and an opportunity for the sector. Biofuels production has grown from 1 million hectares seven years ago to 25 million hectares today. If petroleum prices remain high and...