IEA chief economist: EU, US should import biofuels from the South

President Bush visits Brazil this week and is expected to hear President Lula lobbying him to end American ethanol tariffs. Brazil’s push is now receiving the support from an unlikely quarter – the authoritative International Energy Agency (IEA), the independent energy adviser to 26 of the most industrialized nations.

The IEA understands its case: it has been studying all aspects of biofuels and bioenergy in-depth for years now, with dedicated scientific Task Forces (see IEA Bioenergy), which unite top experts in the field. Bioenergy Task 40 – which analyses the potential for sustainable international trade in biofuels – has made the case very clearly: a large amount of green fuels can be produced in a sustainable manner, without threatening the food security of people and without threatening ecosystems and biodiversity, in the Global South and exported efficiently to world markets (earlier post). Other Bioenergy Task forces come to the same conclusion. Europe and America do not have this capacity.

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