Subsidies

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Bioenergy > Issues > Subsidies

Information about biofuels and bioenergy and subsidies.

Resources

• Global Subsidies Initiative - The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development "is a project designed to put the spotlight on subsidies and the corrosive effects they can have on environmental quality, economic development and governance."

Events

News

• US and EU urged to cut biofuels, 7 July 2008, BBC World News: "World Bank President Robert Zoellick has called for reform of biofuel policies in rich countries, urging them to grow more food to feed the hungry."
  • "The US and Europe also need to take action to reduce mandates, subsidies and tariffs benefiting grain and oil seed biofuels that take food off the table for millions," he said.
• U.N. Chief to Prod Nations On Food Crisis, 2 June 2008 by the Washington Post: "U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will issue an urgent plea to world leaders at a food summit in Rome on Tuesday to immediately suspend trade restrictions, agricultural taxes and other price controls that have helped fuel the highest food prices in 30 years, according to U.N. officials....The United Nations will also urge the United States and other nations to consider phasing out subsidies for food-based biofuels -- such as ethanol".
  • The article notes that a "World Bank analyst estimated that biofuel production has accounted for 65 percent in the rise of world food prices, while the IMF has concluded that biofuel production is responsible for 'a significant part of the jump in commodity prices.'"[1]

• Europe, Cutting Biofuel Subsidies, Redirects Aid to Stress Greenest Options, 22 January 2008, The New York Times: "Governments in Europe and elsewhere have begun rolling back generous, across-the-board subsidies for biofuels, acknowledging that the environmental benefits of these fuels have often been overstated....But as they aim to be more selective, these governments are discovering how difficult it can be to figure out whether a particular fuel — much less a particular batch of corn ethanol or rapeseed biodiesel — has been produced in an environmentally friendly manner."
  • The article notes that "Several countries — including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, as well as parts of Canada — have removed or are revising incentives for farmers, biofuel refiners and distributors."

Reports

• Biofuels — At What Cost? Government support for ethanol and biodiesel in selected OECD countries (PDF file) - September 2007, by the Global Subsidies Initiative. From the description:

"Government support for biofuels has soared in recent years as policy makers have sought ways to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, especially petroleum. However, up to now the full extent of this support has not been documented. Yet informed public debate over the cost-effectiveness and impacts of biofuel policies is impossible without such information."[2]

This report "is a synthesis of individual country reports which are being released over the course of 2006 and 2007."[3]

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