Effective and Low-Disturbing Biofuel Policies
The current market introduction of biofuels is having significant impacts on other commodity markets. Such policy-induced market disturbances could become a major barrier for industry and public support for biofuels. The main objective of this project is to develop least-disturbing policy options which would enhance biofuels but minimize the impacts on e.g. food and feed markets and markets of biomass for power and heat.

The project comprises

• a review of current experiences with biofuels and other renewable energy policies and their impacts on other markets,
• iterative stakeholder-supported development of low-disturbing biofuels policies,
• model-supported assessment of these policies’ impacts on food & feed and lignocellulosic markets, and finally
• an assessment of the selected optimal policies on biofuels costs and potentials. A dissemination activity accompanies the project, aiming at providing relevant inputs for the next review of the biofuels directive, and other relevant policy developments.

To reach the ELOBIO projects’s main objective, the following sub-objectives have been formulated:

• Identification of successful and unsuccessful biofuels policy measures in several EU countries, the USA and Brazil, including their impacts on food, feed and other markets;
• Identification of successful and unsuccessful policy measures for other relevant sectors, such as renewable electricity, upstream bioenergy policies, and technology research, preferably for the energy sector (e.g. coal gasification) and their side-impacts;
• Assessment of side-impacts of biofuels policies on food, feed and other markets, as an operationalization of the market disturbance criterion;
• Assessment of side-impacts of biofuels policies on (and mutual interaction with) the stationary bioenergy sector and the forestry-based industry;
• Evaluation of the sets of policy measures according to the list of criteria and the assessment outcomes. Brochure (pdf)

Responsible for this page: Elisabeth Kawczynski
Last updated: 09 Nov 2009