Contributes to the global debate on biofuels, in particular the consequences that large-scale production of transport fuel substitutes can have on rural areas, principally in developing countries and in some poor rural areas of developed countries. This book looks at the production of biofuels from the role of biofuels in reducing rural poverty.

Interest in biofuels began with oil shocks in the 1970’s, but the more rapid development and consumption of biofuel industry in recent years has been primarily driven by mandates, subsidies, climate change concerns, emissions targets and energy security. From 2004 to 2006, fuel ethanol grew by 26% and biodiesel grew by 172%. As biofuel production continues to expand, investments in capacity expansion and research and development have been made. The 2008 food crisis emphasized the need to re-examine biofuel consequences. Biofuels remain an important renewable energy resource to substitute for fossil fuels, particularly in the transportation sector, yet biofuels’ success is still uncertain. The future of biofuels in the energy supply mix relies on mitigating potential and improving the environmental gains. This book brings together leading authorities on biofuel from the World Bank to examine all of the impacts of biofuel (economic, social, environmental) within a unified framework and in a global perspective, making it of interest to academics in agricultural and environmental economics as well as industry and policy-makers.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: 2,0, Hertie School of Governance (Master of Public Policy), course: States and Markets, language: English, abstract: The Brazilian Biodiesel Program (PNBP) is set out to reduce poverty in the underdeveloped Northern regions of the country. It encourages family agriculture from plants such as castor and palm which are not suitable for plantation farming through government subsidies and low interest credits. The PNBP would have the potentials to reach its goals, if its design and its administration were not half-hearted and the program prone to be sacrificed to the interests of the over-powering soy lobby. Without a more genuine dedication to its social focus, the PNBP is set out to end as a reprint of the highly subsidized ethanol program benefiting car-owners instead of the rural poor.

The last decade has witnessed major crises in both food and energy security across the world. One response to the challenges of climate change and energy supply has been the development of crops to be used for biofuels. But, as this book shows, this can divert agricultural land from food production to energy crops, thus affecting food security, particularly in less developed countries. The author analyses the extent to which biofuels feedstocks fit within the national food security strategy, agro-export orientation, and rural development plans and policies of developing economies. Two case studies, from Tanzania in East Africa and Borneo in Malaysia, are considered in detail, using the non-edible crop of jatropha as an example of how compromises can be reached to balance food and energy goals as well as export markets. The author develops a novel integrated approach, the Institutional Feasibility Study, as the basis of her analysis. She addresses key issues such as: how do global initiatives for green growth, energy security and sustainable development incorporate biofuels industry development? Does global biofuels trade present meaningful foreign and local investment opportunities for developing countries? To what extent does biofuels feedstock production help with poverty reduction and agricultural sector modernization? What role do the EU and the US commitments to biofuels blending targets play in the rapid industry development in developing countries? How does the biofuels industry fit within existing formal and informal institutional frameworks? Who are the winners and losers in the biofuels global value chain?

This report contains the Greater Mekong Subregion Regional Strategic Framework for Biofuel Development. It also presents the executive summaries of this report, the individual biofuel study reports for the six member countries, and the biofuel modeling study. The findings were endorsed at the Fifth Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion Working Group on Agriculture on 22-24 September 2008 in Vientiane, the Lao People's Democratic Republic.