OECD Reports on the Roundtable Discussion for Biofuel

A roundtable discussion by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) led by Richard Doornsbosch and Ronald Steenblik, was conducted to (1) determine whether the technical means exist to produce biofuels in ways that enable the world to meet demand for transportation energy in more secure and less harmful ways, on a meaningful scale and without compromising the ability to feed a growing population; and (2) to determine if the current national and international policies that promote the production of biofuels represent the most cost-effective means of using biomass, and the best way forward for the transport sector.

 Participants to the discussion recommended the development of a new alternative policy agenda that highlights the necessity to find renewable energy sources that are cheap, clean, flexible and easily scalable. The policy should address concerns on: tapping other energy sources besides ethanol; removal of present government mandates on blends that leads to a domino effect of complex problems; need for a thorough study of the subsidy policies which currently blind consumers on the realities of the biofuel industry; and the establishment of regulatory interventions and fiscal resources that enable the widest array of biofuel technology to compete.

 The full OECD can be viewed at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/33/41/39276978.pdf