September 14, 2007
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued a report that is significant because of its findings and the stature of the organization.
The study concludes that existing biofuel technologies (i.e., corn ethanol and soy biodiesel) have limited abilities to meet global energy needs without compromising food supplies and prices and the environment. The study also concludes that the global push to develop biofuels in a bid to reduce oil dependence could "offer a cure that is worse that the disease The OECD -- whose 30 member nations include the United States -- is meeting in Paris this week to discuss the report.
"In theory there might be enough land available around the globe to feed an ever-increasing world population and produce sufficient biomass feedstock simultaneously," the report says, "but it is more likely that land-use constraints will limit the amount of new land that can be brought into production leading to a 'food-versus-fuel' debate." Since land use is driven largely by profit motives, it says, diversions of cropland from food production will lead to food price increases over the next decade. Biomass production will likely put increased environmental pressure on tropical regions, whose land is most suitable for such crops, the report says. "When such impacts as soil acidification, fertilizer use, biodiversity loss and toxicity of agricultural pesticides are taken into account, the overall environmental impacts of ethanol and biodiesel can very easily exceed those of petrol and mineral diesel," it says.
Moreover, the report questions whether developed nations have dramatically overestimated the extent to which biofuels can displace fossil fuels and warns that many of the more optimistic scenarios are highly unlikely to come to fruition. "In only a very few countries do biofuels have the potential to make a significant dent in dependence on imported oils," the report says.
Friends of the Earth Europe is using the report to urge the European Union to scrap its target that 10 percent of transportation fuel needs be met with biofuels by 2020. "Hurtling headfirst down the agrofuels path will be a big mistake, and the OECD is the latest of a series of respected international bodies to warn against it," said Adrian Bebb, agrofuels campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe. "The E.U. risks stimulating further destruction and poverty in developing countries if it sticks with its current agrofuels target."
The OECD does say that the development of advanced or second generation biofuels may allow for more fossil fuel displacement, but it is unclear if they will ever become "economically viable" and there are several other questions about the practical feasibility of using such a technology on a large scale. The report also argues that in order to improve the potential of biofuels both the countries themselves and international organizations must make substantial policy shifts. The OECD urges nations to stop creating new mandates for biofuels and even find a way to phase them out, replacing them instead with technology-neutral policies such as carbon taxes. Such policies will do more to stimulate the development of efficient biofuel technology rather than policies such as mandates that tend to lean on a single technology, according to the OECD.
To download a copy of the study, go to http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/40/25/39266869.pdf.
For more information, contact Rich Kolodziej at 202/824-7366 or rkolodziej@ngvamerica.org.
Courtesy of NGVAmerica, www.ngvamerica.org.