Soaring Oil Prices Fueling Switch to Bio-Fuels Globally
AEN News
New York - Under the pressure from soaring oil prices and growing
environmental constraints, momentum is gathering for a major
international switch from fossil fuels to renewable bio-energy
sources such as sugar cane or sunflower seeds, the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.
"The gradual move away from oil has begun. Over the next 15 to 20
years we may see bio-fuels providing a full 25 per cent of the
world's energy needs," Alexander Müller, the new Assistant
Director-General for FAO' Sustainable Development Department,
Alexander Müller, said at the agency’s Rome headquarters.
FAO's interest in bio-energy stems from the positive impact
which energy crops are expected to have on rural economies
and the opportunity offered countries to diversify their
energy sources.
"At the very least it could mean a new lease of life for commodities
such as sugar whose international prices have plummeted," FAO's
Senior Energy Coordinator Gustavo Best noted.
Factors pushing for such a momentous change in the world
energy market include environmental constraints such as
increased global warming and the Kyoto Protocol's curbs
on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses
as well as a growing perception by governments of the risks
of dependence on oil.
"Oil at more than 70 dollars a barrel makes bio-energy potentially
more competitive," Mr. Müller said. "Also, in the last decade
global environmental concerns and energy consumption patterns
have built up pressure to introduce more renewable energy
into national energy plans and to reduce reliance on fossil fuels."
FAO highlighted Brazil as an example for the rest of the world.
Latin America's largest country is the world's biggest producer
of bio-ethanol and 1 million Brazilian cars already run on
fuel made from sugar cane, with most new cars powered by
"flex fuel" engines. Introduced three years ago they use
either gasoline or bioethanol, or any mix of the two.
Europe lags well behind Brazil in bio-ethanol production and
consumption, but the European Union (EU) has set itself the
target of increasing the share of bio-fuels in transport to
8 per cent by 2015. However, if oil prices stay high, things
could move even faster, FAO noted.
Europe is already the world's largest producer of bio-diesel,
now made from rapeseed, soya or sunflower seeds.
"The beauty of bio-energy is that production can be tailored
to local environments and energy needs," Mr. Best said.
"Where there's land, where there's farmers, where there's
interest, bio-energy may be the best option. And if we
add some sound analysis and good business models, we will
get that option right."
But he stressed that FAO was focusing on the likely benefits
for small farmers. One hazard is that large-scale promotion
of bio-energy relying on intensive cash-crop monocultures
could see the sector dominated by a few agri-energy giants,
without any significant gains for small farmers
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