Prolonging fossil fuels or hastening the low-carbon transition? The diffusion of biofuel development: Motivations and strategies

Abstract

This chapter investigates the striking similarity in biofuel development strategies within a group of fifteen significantly varied states in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. How extensive are the similarities across these countries when we differentiate between ‘generations’ of biofuels, and how might we explain the former in terms of the biofuels-related policies observed? To address both questions, we draw on policy reports and relevant scientific articles regarding the respective governments’ rationales for promoting biofuels. We further show that, in each of the cases studied, biofuels were not intended as a substitute for fossil fuels but rather as a complement to them. At the same time, the adopted policies serve to increase the share of biofuels while reducing that of fossil fuels. While the types of biofuels promoted are not identical, decisions to adopt them have been interdependent. In the EU and United States, for example, the promotion of biofuels represents an attempt to pursue multiple goals simultaneously: Increase energy security, decarbonize the transportation and energy sectors, and promote agri-industrial development. As relevant markets have become structured to promote biofuels, they have in turn created an economic incentive for developing countries in particular to embrace biofuels accordingly. In this vein, the policy decisions made by more affluent countries clearly affect the policy decisions of less affluent ones, with the aforementioned incentive structure explaining the similarities observed.