UK researchers call for policies to support biofuels at UN Climate Summit

In the UK, as heads of government, business, and finance gather in New York for the annual United Nations Climate Summit September 23, University of Sheffield researchers back the economic benefits of global action on climate change verses the cost of inaction.

Research at the Sheffield Institute for International Development (SIID), suggests there are a number of economically viable options for a low carbon economy available, but that there are a host of political, social and economic constraints that could prevent successful policies and initiatives from being rolled out worldwide.

Dr Jojo Nem Singh, researcher at SIID and lecturer in international development at the University of Sheffield, is part of a two year research programme aimed at exploring and developing ‘compatible-climate energy strategies’. The programme, supported by the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), explores initiatives, policies and governance mechanisms that can fulfil the requirement to supply secure and affordable energy in a way that reduces current carbon emissions and builds the adaptive capacity of societies to a changing climate.

Dr Nem Singh commented on the complexity of finding sustainable energy solutions that are both economically and politically viable: “Brazil is an exceptionally successful example of a country that has responded to fossil fuel consumption through long-term investments in the renewable energy sector. Brazil’s ethanol programme was developed initially through state investments, but with subsequent development through private sector participation. Today, Brazilian cars are run by a mixture of ethanol and crude oil.

“However, there are reasons why such strategies may not be automatically transferable elsewhere, and those reasons are largely political. Previous research into the political economy of renewable energy suggests that a country needs to have a market large enough to allow for innovation in the sector.”

He added: “Rather than competing with the hydrocarbons industry, renewable energy needs to have an economic rationale. For Brazil, the ethanol programme was the answer to its energy security problems and uncertainty in developing self-sufficiency in oil and gas. Our project is beginning to explore these economic and political conditions necessary for climate compatible energy strategies. ”

The research project is exploring examples of such ‘compatible-climate energy strategies’ from developed and developing countries, with a focus on the economic justifications in favour of climate compatible development.