This briefing paper reviews evidence of the impacts of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices, with a focus on corn and soy, and presents new analysis on the impact of the RFS on U.S. livestock farmers. Studies examining the relationship between food prices and biofuel demand conclude …
This report provides an analysis of the tools and tactics advocacy groups use to influence policy responses to climate change at international, regional, national and sub-national levels. More than 20 climate networks and their member organisations have contributed to the report with their experiences of advocacy on climate change, including …
Report predicts forced displacement of poor people from their land to meet EU targets to grow fuel crops. The European Union’s biofuel policies are driving up global food prices and pushing people in poor countries off their land, says a recent report of ActionAid. EU has a target of 10 …
Three out of four U.S. voters favor regulating carbon dioxide as a greenhouse-gas pollutant, and a majority think global warming should be a priority for the president and Congress, a survey of American attitudes on climate and energy reported on Thursday. The survey was released one day after Rolling Stone …
Tracking Clean Energy Progress is an early except of the forthcoming Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 (ETP2012). The report tracks progress in the development and deployment of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies in the power generation, industry, buildings, and transport sectors. Progress is assessed against rates required to achieve a …
Researchers have found that climate change is likely to have far greater influence on the volatility of corn prices over the next three decades than factors that recently have been blamed for price swings — like oil prices, trade policies and government biofuel mandates. The new study, published on Sunday …
This is first new annual IFPRI publication provides a comprehensive, research-based analysis of major food policy challenges at the global, regional, national, and local levels. Highlights important developments in food policy that occurred in 2011 and takes a look forward into 2012. The 2011 Global Food Policy Report is a …
The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are a key, integral component of the stability, sustainability and functioning of ecosystems. In this study, we characterised the AMF biodiversity in a native vegetation soil and in a soil cultivated with Jatropha curcas or Ricinus communis, in a tropical system in Guantanamo (Cuba), in …
A large, global move to produce more energy from forest biomass may be possible and already is beginning in some places, but scientists say in a new analysis that such large-scale bioenergy production from forest biomass is unsustainable and will increase greenhouse gas emissions. Early suggestions that such a forest …
SYDNEY: Australia's Qantas on Friday launched the nation's first commercial flight using a mixture of refined cooking oil, saying it would not survive if it relied solely on traditional jet fuel. The Airbus A330 left Sydney for Adelaide using a 50-50 blend derived from recycled cooking oil and regular jet …
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government is working towards producing around 183 MW of electricity from bagasse acquired from 12 sugar mills in the state from February next, State Industries Minister P Thangamani said today. He was replying to a question from K Alaguvelu (AIADMK) in the state assembly. Alaguvelu had asked …
Twenty companies, including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co and Cargill Inc, have been cleared to produce the new ethanol grade called E15, a significant step toward putting the higher blend biofuel on sale, the government announced on Monday. Most fuel sold at filling stations is a 9-to-1 blend of gasoline and corn-based ethanol. …
Scaling-up existing sustainable transportation technologies can help the transportation sector and governments to reach their sustainability and carbon emissions reduction targets. However, it also holds great potential for job creation and long-term sustained economic growth. In order to achieve this, Sustainable Transportation Ecosystem, a report released by the World Economic …
Recent years have seen ‘land grabbing’ emerge as a big issue in media houses across the world, with reporters quick to write about deals involving millions of hectares, particularly within Africa. Yet large-scale land acquisitions are not a purely African phenomenon. Other parts of the world are also subject to …
The model described in this working paper, the National Bioenergy Investment Model (NBIM), simulates the decisions of domestic and international direct investors on whether to invest in biofuel projects in a developing country. The model can inform scenarios that assess the potential contribution of biofuel production to national development goals. …
Companies and countries have experienced ups and downs in the worldwide clean energy race in recent years, and 2011 was no exception. For consumers, however, the clean energy race has been consistently positive, driving down prices and interjecting new renewable energy choices into a marketplace dominated by century-old technologies. Price …
This report will examine the effects of European biofuels policies on global and local food security and food rights, land rights, climate change, labour rights and women’s rights. It will do so by referring both to independent modelling analyses of how food rights and land rights have been affected by …
This policy paper addresses the rapidly evolving energy sector of India and the growth of first-generation biofuels as an alternative to fossil-based transportation fuels. The paper assesses the broad ramifications of the rapid and large–scale development of biofuels in India with the objective of identifying production potential and constraints to …
A maroon car, powered by fuel obtained from photosynthetic microorganisms, was flagged off for a test run by Union minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Vilasrao Deshmukh in New Delhi on March 30. The event brings alternative fuels from microorganisms closer to reality. With fossil fuels set to …
The oil seed has burnt farmers and investors alike Money may not grow on trees, but for a time it appeared to grow on bushes – specifically, a tropical shrub called jatropha curcas. Over the past decade, jatropha was planted on millions of acres across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa after …
Sugarcane-based electricity generation projects in Brazil are being blown out of the water by wind power and other lower-cost energy alternatives, slowing ambitions to expand one of Brazil's largest potential new sources of clean energy, experts said. The world's No. 1 sugar producer and No. 2 ethanol maker amasses 140 …
