UNCTAD warns of global effect of local decisions on biofuels

Biofuels are at a “crossroads”, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in a new report mapping the global implications of actions by individual countries in order to help bioenergy development turn into a win-win solution for the environment and rural development.

While many factors in support of biofuels remain intact (such as the need for energy security and lower greenhouse-gas emissions and the chance to spur rural development and create market opportunities for developing countries), the rapid increase in agricultural and food prices has called into question the ethics of diverting land and crops to energy production. Environmental impacts are also raising concern.

Ensuring that biofuels take the most virtuous path at this crossroads will depend on policies and strategies put in place by individual countries or regions. UNCTAD has sought to provide insights on the global repercussions of specific policy developments, tracing knock-on effects at an international level for the economy, trade, energy and the environment.

“This report presents and discusses alternative decision paths that countries may follow and the possible implications,” said Simonetta Zarrilli, legal officer from UCTAD’s Division on International Trade and Commodities. “It zeroes in on mechanisms and issues that need to be addressed when designing and implementing sound biofuels strategies.” The report “The biofuels market: current situation and alternative scenarios” was prepared in cooperation with the Italian Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea
 as a contribution to the GBEP programme of work and was presented at the GBEP’s side event held during the UNFCCC COP 14 in Poznan, Poland, on 11 December.

The report covers six aspects of bioenergy development: whether the production capacity of the biofuels industry is able to fulfil the demand resulting from the implementation of biofuels blending and utilisation targets; how the establishment of a carbon dioxide price would create incentives for the development of a global biofuels market; the commercial viability of second-generation biofuel technology; the trade potential available to developing countries; patenting and investment trends in advanced, second-generation biofuels and related intellectual property scenarios; and finally the potential role of jatropha.

The report will be available shortly on the GBEP website.

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