EU Policies on Bioenergy and their Potential Clash with the WTO

The paper outlines EU policy on bioenergy, including biofuels, in the context of its policy initiatives to promote renewable energy to combat greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The EU’s Member States are responsible for implementing EU policy: thus, the UK’s Renewables Obligation on electricity suppliers and its Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation and road‐fuel tax rebates are examined. It is unlikely that EU policy is in conflict with the WTO Agreement on Agriculture or that on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, but its provisions on environmental sustainability criteria could be problematic.     

东盟国家绿色清洁能源发展及其与我国的合作

东盟国家近年在生物能源等新能源发展方面采取了一系列的推进措施,已渐成规模,并形成了较为完善的政策框架和配套扶持体系,其经验值得我国借鉴,同时,中国-东盟在新能源领域的合作正逐步展开.     

Policy and trade issues for a future regional biofuels market in Southern Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews the domestic political and legislative context surround biofuels initiatives to highlight what opportunities exist for establishing a biofuels trade network between South Africa (as an anchor market) and its neighbours, specifically in Zambia and Mozambique. By analysing global developments in major biofuel importers, reasons for policy inertia in South Africa, and recent experiences with biofuels investments, we suggest that the likelihood for a regional biofuels market developing is slender without addressing land-related challenges in producer countries and revising South Africa’s domestic legislation.     

Driving on liquid sunshine – the Brazilian biofuel experience: a policy driven analysis

This paper analyses Brazil's experience with biofuels, focusing on the central role of the federal government as the main force driving the implementation of alternative locally produced ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and biodiesel. The pioneering, large scale ethanol programme that started over 30 years ago can be considered the most successful experience with the use of biofuels to date, as the government was able to rapidly implement the use of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) as a substitute for petrol in the 1970s and 1980s. The work contributes to the general discussion of sustainable and renewable energy sources and sets out the key policy mechanisms used. The paper also innovatively looks at the second large governmental intervention in the renewable fuels market – the biodiesel programme. In addition to the contribution to the debate surrounding command‐and‐control measures and economic incentive instruments, the paper analyses how lessons learned from the ethanol experiment were taken into consideration in the design and implementation of the biodiesel mandate, including social and environmental facets. It emphasizes the uniqueness of producing sugarcane ethanol in the Brazilian context and how attempts to carry out similar fast growing biofuels programmes may not be possible in other parts of the world. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

木质纤维素生产生物乙醇的研究进展

目前最常用的可再生燃料是来自于粮食和甘蔗的乙醇,但其原料来源受到限制,广泛存在的木质纤维素生物质作为生产乙醇的原料便具有很大的优势.本文介绍了近年国内外用生物质生产生物乙醇的进展.     

经济增长、能源消费与生物燃料乙醇发展——对生物燃料乙醇发展影响宏观视角的实证分析

利用社会经济统计数据对我国汽油市场的未来供求状况进行实证考察;借助vensim软件分析生物燃料乙醇发展对我国能源安全问题和经济可持续增长的影响。研究结果表明,在未来我国汽油供给日趋紧张的形势下,生物燃料乙醇发展将对缓解汽油需求瓶颈和保障经济可持续发展起到一定的作用,但在我国能源安全问题的解决上作用甚微。