What’s the Buzz? Heard on the Floor at the COP24, on Renewable Fuels and More (Biofuture Platform)

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... “Pretty intense I’d say. Good.” notes Climate Ethanol Alliances’s James Cogan. “We’ve been in a dozen transport energy events so far.”

Most discussions here about climate progress in transport get to the hand-wringing stage of recognizing the urgency and scale of progress needed, but falling short of saying what should be done, Cogan adds. “So it’s a lot of armchair generals. We’ve been intervening at every point to say (a) the UN’s Special Report says bioenergy is as important as electromobility for the next four decades and (b) no policy discussion can be meaningful unless it looks at the cost of the different measures, and regular ethanol is the cheapest climate measure in transport by a long shot. We believe we’re being successful in getting people to listen and to make the step forward.”

A landmark new multi-country report launched today states that the world’s greenhouse gas reduction goals cannot be met without greater use of biofuels and bioproducts, and reveals the four largest barriers currently impeding further progress.

The report, Creating the Biofuture: A Report on the State of the Low Carbon Bioeconomy, affirms – in line with models and scenarios by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – that biofuels and bioproducts must play an integral role in the global energy transition, in tandem with other complementary mitigation efforts across all sectors.

• High levels of perceived risk affecting the availability of financial resources for commercial-scale production, holding back necessary research, development and deployment.

• Lack of competitiveness for biofuels and other bioproducts relative to fossil fuel-based alternatives in many markets, taking into account fossil fuels subsidies and the comparative cost reductions achieved in a mature industry.

• Unfavorable policy frameworks that do not effectively coordinate the competing needs of the agricultural economy and food system, a secure and clean energy supply, and the protection of the natural environment.

• Insufficient, unreliable or expensive supplies of sustainably-sourced feedstock to use in the production of biofuels and other bioproducts.

The Biofuture Platform also announced today that the IEA was designated to assume the role of Facilitator, following the Government of Brazil’s interim tenure. This development comes as part of a major governance overhaul to reinforce the Platform’s position as a key driver of international collaboration to overcome barriers to growth and accelerate the deployment of a sustainable low carbon bioeconomy. READ MORE