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Biofuel costly and ineffective, OECD reports |
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Tuesday, 12 August 2008 |
The study ‘Economic Assessment
of Biofuel Support Policies in OECD
countries’, published by the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development in July,
confirms the previous observations
of French News environment
correspondent, Lindsay Woodster.
Biofuels are currently highly
dependent on public funding, the report
states. While they do little to reduce
greenhouse gases or improve energy
security, they have a significant impact
on world crop prices.
Tax concessions, direct financial
support and trade restrictions protect
the domestic industry but do not reduce
retail prices, and they hamper
alternative development.
Ethanol from sugar cane reduces
Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions by
80%, but biofuels in Europe and North
America, from wheat, sugar beet or
vegetable oil, can claim no more than
60% and maize less than 30%. Current
measures will increase wheat prices by
about 5%, maize by 7% and vegetable
oil by about 19% over the next 10
years, the report estimates. It calls on
governments to encourage lower
consumption, particularly in transport,
and for more open markets and more
research into second-generation
biofuels which do not use feedstocks.
www.oecd.org/tad/bioenergy
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