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Begin New Search Topic Biofuels Political Geography United States

1. Mandating Food Insecurity: The Global Impacts of Rising Biofuel Mandates and Targets

Author:
Timothy A. Wise and Emily Cole
Publication Date:
02-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Expanding demand for biofuels, fed significantly by government policies mandating rising levels of consumption in transportation fuel, has been strongly implicated in food price increases and food price volatility most recently seen in 2008 and 2011-2012. First-generation biofuels, made from agricultural crops, divert food directly to fuel markets and divert land, water and other food-producing resources from their current or potential uses for production of feed for animals and food for human consumption. A key policy driver of biofuel consumption is government mandates to increase or maintain rates or levels of biofuel blends in transportation fuel, the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard and the E.U. Renewable Energy Directive being the most prominent cases. In this paper we assess the spread of such mandates and targets, finding that at least 64 countries now have such policies. We estimate the consumption increases implied by full implementation of such mandates in the seven countries/regions with the highest biofuel consumption, suggesting a 43% increase in first-generation biofuel consumption in 2025 over current levels. We compare this to even higher estimates from international agencies. We assess the likelihood of implementation in key countries and regions, which suggests that with reform, particularly in OECD countries, consumption growth could be slowed. We conclude with policy recommendations to reduce the mandate-driven expansion of first-generation biofuels and mitigate their negative social and environmental impacts.
Topic:
Agriculture, Food, Biofuels, Europe Union, and Chemical Weapons
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and North America

2. America's Energy Security Options

Author:
Trevor Houser
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Like clock-work, as US gasoline prices approached $4 a gallon in spring 2011, energy security moved to the forefront of the American political debate. Global oil prices have recovered from their collapse during the financial crisis more quickly than expected due to resilient developing-country demand and political instability throughout the Middle East and North Africa. As with past oil price spikes, politicians have been quick to offer silver bullet solutions to lower gas prices and make America more energy secure. But given the complexity of the US energy system and global energy markets, it is difficult for even informed observers to evaluate how far current proposals go in solving the country's energy security challenge.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Oil, Natural Resources, and Biofuels
Political Geography:
United States, America, Middle East, and North Africa

3. Primary Energy and Transportation Fuels and the Energy and Water Nexus: Ten Challenges

Author:
Blythe Lyons
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
A substantive dialogue has emerged in the United States under the rubric of "the energy and water nexus," representing the deepening understanding of the circular relationship between water and energy. Both are essential building blocks of US economic and physical security, and interface with efforts to improve health and prosperity. On a national level, the criticality of this relationship to economic and public prosperity is often ignored, as energy and water impacts are largely specific to a watershed or a local surface water source. The United States today needs new policies and significant infrastructure investment in order to meet the increasing demand for water and energy, while dealing with the constraints of growing water scarcity and potential threats to water quality.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Oil, Natural Resources, Water, and Biofuels
Political Geography:
United States

4. U.S.-India Dialogue on Sustainable Energy Security

Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The world is at a critical junction in history that will shift the course of economic, social and political developments. The steps major economies take will have a profound impact on international developments and make increasing global cooperation on a number of issues crucial to the well-being of citizens throughout the world. The “US-India Dialogue on Sustainable Energy Security” was the latest effort by the Atlantic Council's Program on Energy and Environment to work with other leading policy institutions to identify the challenges of international cooperation to resolve the difficulties associated with providing the energy resources required to support growing and sustainable economic and social prosperity. The Council's activities are designed to provide non-partisan, pragmatic assessments and recommendations that recognize the need for international energy structures that support the worldwide physical supply security of environmentally responsible and affordable energy.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Bilateral Relations, Natural Resources, and Biofuels
Political Geography:
United States, India, and Southeast Asia

5. Biofuels Impact on Crop and Food Prices: Using an Interactive Spreadsheet

Author:
Scott Baier, Mark Clements, and Jane Ihrig
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
This paper examines the effect that biofuels production has had on commodity and global food prices. The innovative contribution of this paper is the interactive spreadsheet that allows the reader to choose the assumptions behind the estimates. By allowing the reader to choose the country, time period, supply and demand elasticities, and the size of indirect effects we explicitly illustrate the sensitivity of the estimated effect of biofuels production on prices. Our best estimates suggest that the increase in biofuels production over the past two years has had a sizeable impact on corn, sugar, barley and soybean prices, but a much smaller impact on global food prices. Over the past two years (ending June 2008), we estimate that the increase in worldwide biofuels production pushed up corn, soybean and sugar prices by 27, 21 and 12 percentage points respectively. The countries that account for most of the upward pressure on these prices are the United States and Brazil. Our best estimates suggest that the increase in U.S. biofuels production (ethanol and biodiesel) pushed up corn prices by more than 22 percentage points and soybean prices (soybeans and soybean oil) by more than 15 percentage points, while the increase in EU biofuels production pushed corn and soybean prices up around 3 percentage points. Brazil’s increase in sugar-based ethanol production accounts for the entire rise in the price of sugar. Although biofuels had a noticeable impact on individual crop prices, they had a much smaller impact on global food prices. Our best estimate suggests that the increase in worldwide biofuels production over the past two years accounts for just over 12 percent of the rise in the IMF’s food price index. The increase in U.S. biofuels production accounts for roughly 60 percent of this effect, while Brazil accounts for 14 percent and the EU accounts for 15 percent. The key take- away point is that nearly 90 percent of the rise in global food prices comes from factors other than biofuels.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Food, Biofuels, and Ethanol
Political Geography:
United States, Brazil, South America, and North America