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Biofuels – At What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the United States: 2007 Update
By the German Marshall Fund of the United States - The latest report on thier series of studies on U.S. government support for biofuels in the U.S.: "Biofuels: At What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the United States – 2007 Update."This report, which updates the GSI’s report issued last October, details the extent of the current government support to biofuels in the United States, and analyzes the impact of forthcoming legislation, namely the Energy and Farm Bills.
Background
Biofuels production and consumption has surged dramatically over a short period of time – globally, production of both ethanol and biodiesel has grown at double-digit rates in each of the last four years. A host of emerging concerns have arisen as a result, including impacts on food supplies, the environment, and economies.While increasing attention has been paid to the potentially negative consequences resulting from the biofuels boom, there has been relatively little focus on the forces driving the expansion. It is critical to understand that the rapid growth of the biofuels industry has not been solely in response to market forces; rather, government policies, such as subsidies and mandated use of biofuels, have been the key driving factors.
A series of reports by the Global Subsidies Initiative, a division of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, reveal the scale and shape of that government support in the United States, the European Union, and other selected OECD countries.
The access this series of reports... Click Here
October 2007
