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Cross‐trade bei Biotreibstoffen: Wie unkoordinierte Umweltgesetzgebung Ressourcenverbrauch und Treibhausgasemissionen in die Höhe treibt
Author(s) -
Meyer Seth,
Schmidhuber Josef,
BarreiroHurlé Jesús
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
eurochoices
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.487
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1746-692X
pISSN - 1478-0917
DOI - 10.1111/1746-692x.12040
Subject(s) - biofuel , energy independence , greenhouse gas , aviation biofuel , energy security , corn ethanol , renewable energy , natural resource economics , economics , renewable fuels , business , agricultural economics , international trade , bioenergy , ethanol fuel , waste management , engineering , ecology , electrical engineering , biology
Summary The uncoordinated and distinct biofuel policies in Brazil and the US have induced cross‐trade of physically identical, but legislatively differentiated, ethanol between the two countries. US biofuel policy distinguishes between biofuels based primarily on feedstocks and estimated greenhouse gas reduction scores. In doing so, the US treats ethanol produced from maize starch differently than that produced from sugarcane, giving preference to sugarcane ethanol. Alternatively, Brazil makes no distinction between feedstocks, instead setting a minimum ethanol inclusion rate for retail gasoline blends, giving rise to arbitrage opportunities through biofuel exchange between the two countries. Under the US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, future cross‐trade between the two countries could be multiples of what has been seen to date and recent actions by the EU commission concerning the Renewable Energy Directive could draw it into the trilateral trade of biofuels. The proposed ‘book and claim’ system could allow countries to maintain individual policy objectives and mitigate the negative externalities – additional transport costs and greenhouse gas emissions – of biofuel cross‐trade due to uncoordinated biofuel policies.