Strategies for a sustainable Pan-African biofuels policy

Abstract

Biomass is common in people's daily lives and would not require any special policy if it would not have received a new dimension in the recent past: the production of CO2 neutral energy and in particular biofuels. Triggered by the highly industrialized countries especially in Europe, this has developed fast and like any development, has both positive and negative effects. In particular, the production of biofuels from biomass has become part of the international process of combating CO2 emissions especially in highly industrialized countries, but also in view of the volatility of fossil fuel supplies and the dwindling fuel reserves. Today, biofuels remain a key part of the global energy solution and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) represents a fascinating marketplace of untapped opportunities amid unique challenges. Due to the cost, land, and climate restrictions of producing biofuels in Europe and America and the current challenges Asian production is facing, many investors are turning to Africa for growing energy crops for biofuels production. The interest in biofuels production in SSA countries is gaining momentum such that the production of energy crops will become an integral part of the energy sector development for the future. Nevertheless, such a process will require long-term thinking and far-sightedness since bioenergy will change its position within the energy mix. The future energy mix will be most probably dominated by solar energy and biomass will mainly form the basis for sustainable chemical production processes. The growing international and domestic demand for biofuels will necessitate that SSA countries develop a Pan-African biofuels policy to address possible diverging or even conflicting international and SSA interests and to adopt the same policy or similar stipulations of fundamental principles for biofuels in the SSA region. This will also help to counter the possibility that SSA countries out-compete against each other or that SSA producers benefit little from private investments in the sector. This chapter discusses critical issues surrounding biofuels development and proposes the way forwards for the development of a Pan-African biofuels policy to ensure that biofuels are produced in a sustainable manner and that the negative effects of biofuels development on environment, economy and society do not outweigh the expected beneficial outcomes of energy security and poverty alleviation in Africa.