The international energy community has recently seen an increased interest in biofuels. These alternative sources of energy are perceived as one of the solutions to the biggest challenge our earth faces today-climate change and global warming attributed to green house gas (GHG) emissions. There are three main drivers for the development of bioenergy and biofuels, viz. climate change, energy security and rural development.



With depleting fossil fuels and soaring oil prices-$ 140 a barrel (and rising) -biofuels are seen as the ???green alternative???. Biofuels are renewable source of energy (derived from plant forms) and less polluting compared to fossil fuels -petrol and diesel. Ethanol, the most common biofuel, is produced from agricultural crops-primarily, sugarcane and corn. Biofuels are not a new source of energy. They have long been used in Asia and the Pacific Islands, and have been in use in Africa for a few decades (Mali, in particular, has used Jatropha for biofuel).

While the European Union (EU) considers biofuel to be a sustainable source of energy, the United States (US) tends to see them as an alternative for reducing oil-dependency and as a technical option to respond to climate change. In addition, several developing countries, such as, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia etc. have engaged in an export oriented development of biofuels. With climate change a big threat combined with fast depleting and highly expensive oil resources, several countries, like the EU, US, Brazil etc., have set targets to increase biofuels use and adopted various promotive policies for the same. African economies are concerned that an increasing diversion of arable land to bio-fuels may threaten food security especially for the vulnerable sections of the population. This concern is exacerbated by its strong demographic growth, the urgent need for greater access to energy and, more broadly, by the need for a sustainable economic development.

India does not have a biofuel policy in place yet. But the government has been carrying out experiments and pilot projects to study the viability of biodiesel. Since we consume almost all the sugar we manufacture, the sugarcane based ethanol is ruled out as an option. Oil from Jatropha is also an option for India, but it is still in early stages. Sometimes back, Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad, Minster for Rural Development in India, who is in the Group of Ministers (GoM) on biofuels in India, speaking at a Convention on Biodiesel remarked that ???thirty million hectares of wasteland is available in India, which can be efficiently used for the cultivation of Jatropha and similar crops to produce biofuel for substituting fossil fuels???.

The potential impact of a large global expansion of biofuels production capacity on net food producers and consumers in low-income countries presents challenges for food policy planners and raises the question of whether sustainable development targets at a more general level can be reached. Achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2000, which include halving the world???s undernourished and impoverished, lies at the core of global initiatives to improve human well-being and equity, yet today, virtually no progress has been made towards achieving the dual-goal of alleviating global hunger and poverty.

The increasing use of food and feed crops for fuel is altering the fundamental economic dynamics that have governed global agricultural markets for the past century. Investments in crop-based biofuels production are rising steadily as countries seek substitutes for high-priced petroleum products, GHG-emitting fossil fuels, and energy supplies originating from politically unstable countries.

However, critics point out that biofuels can not be promoted when global grain supplies are depleting and millions starving. Such criticism is currently directed towards the contribution of biofuels production in raising agro-food products prices and increase poverty in developing countries. Corn, soyabaen, sugarcane and other crops are seen as sources of clean and cheap biofuels. This results in less grain available for human consumption, which drives up the prices for basic foodstuffs. The case of Mexico illustrates the crisis around corn, which constitutes a staple food. The rise of corn prices is linked to the growing demand for this crop for the production of ethanol, intended for the US market.

At the global level, the current interest in biofuels is mainly seen in the context of industrial production operating within the framework of an international market governed by globalization rules. Two trends have emerged from the biofuels scene. On the one hand, fossil fuel-importing nations who are seeking an immediate solution to reduce their growing energy expenditures, and on the other hand, countries which are currently-or are interested in becoming-biofuels exporters, are attempting to position themselves strategically within the global energy market. This reflects the great hope for biofuels as key in overcoming the energy crisis, promoting alternative energy, and reducing global warming and its consequences. The industrial scale production of biofuels practiced to date has focused primarily on the conversion of crops such as sugarcane, corn, soyabean etc. as a fuel base. This first generation of biofuels remains contested and is currently the source of a heated debate on the threat that energy security poses to food security.

Very recently, the Indian Finance Minister Mr. Chidambaram, while addressing an academic gathering observed that in a ???climate of food insecurity???; it is ???outrageous??? that developed countries are turning food crops into biofuels. He said that countries like the US were doing so (it is expected that 20% of the corn produced in the US goes to making biofuels) while the world???s poor are struggling with surging food prices. He said using corn and other crops for fuel is a sign of ???lopsided priorities???.

This debate has stimulated a new interest in the exploration of a second generation of biofuels, based on the conversion of agricultural and forestry wastes or the conversion of lignocellulosic substances into energy. However, this second generation has not yet reached an acceptable level of economic viability. The use of Jatropha for energy production is particularly noteworthy in the debate on biofuels, especially in Asia and Africa. This plant, which can be cultivated in semi-arid, arid or sub-humid soils, appears to offer the compromise sought between use of lands and water for food or energy needs.

The best way forward would be to strengthen the technological capacity of the developing countries by ensuring access to adequate technology at affordable costs for accelerated mitigation efforts to tackle adverse climatic changes, inter alia, through increased use of renewable energy, including biofules, and enhanced energy efficiency.

Delivering biofuels that contribute to a meaningful reduction in GHG emission requires the development, inter alia, of highly efficient and integrated supply systems. Current policy frameworks (for example, European Directive on Biofuels) and subsidies for biofules are not directed towards reducing GHG emissions, but rather provide incentives for national supply targets. As a result, there is no incentive to invest in the systems that would deliver low GHG biofuels.

To conclude, growth in biofuels production capacity offers many promises, but also many challenges for the future course of sustainable development. The design and implementation of sustainability audits is critical as the biofuels industry develops, with clear metrics for evaluating the social and environmental consequences of biofuels and feedstock production, and for assuming that management and governance practices are compatible with pre-determined sustainability goals. Integrating the results of sustainability goals with analysis of food security impacts of biofuels expansion would provide useful input to policymakers and companies investing in biofuels activities, and international agencies seeking to reduce global poverty and hunger. In defense of the world???s poorest populations, it is of utmost importance that the ripple effects of crop-based biofuels on food-security and the environment be understood soon and considered carefully in the design of development policies and investments. Instead of diverting crop land for the production of biofuels, methods should be adopted to utilize the wastelands or dry lands or uncultivable lands into such use. Almost thirty million hectares of wasteland is available in India, which can be efficiently used for the cultivation of Jatropha and similar crops to produce biofuel. In fact, keeping in view of the costs and viability of biofuels, there are suggestions in academic circles that instead of using biofuels as transport fuel, it should be made available to the poor for their household energy needs; thereby reducing the need for government subsidies on kerosene.

* The author is Research Associate at ICRIER, New Delhi.

The views are personal.

He can be contacted at amit.icrier@gmail.com

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