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Global Trade and Environmental Impact Study of the

70 Live Views 12 In Crowd The authors of a recent study for the European Commision will present their findings on the impact of possible changes in EU biofuels trade policies on global agricultural production and the environmental performance of the EU biofuel policy. The… The authors of a recent study for the European Commision will present their findings on the impact of possible changes in EU biofuels trade policies on global agricultural production and the environmental performance of the EU biofuel policy. The study pays particular attention to the ILUC effects, and the associated emissions, of the main feedstocks used for first-generation biofuels production. This is the only study, out of the four launched by the Commission, that uses a global computable general equilibrium model (CGE) to estimate the impact of EU biofuels policies. The authors assess the greenhouse gas emissions (focusing on CO2) associated with direct and indirect land use changes as generated by the model for the year 2020, and separately quantify the marginal ILUC for each feedstock crop.
Analysis of ILUC effects by crop indicates that ethanol, and particularly sugar-based ethanol, will generate the highest potential gains in terms of net emission savings. For biodiesel, palm oil remains as efficient as rapeseed oil, even if peatland emissions are taken into account. The model also indicates that the ILUC emission coefficients could increase with the size of the EU mandate. Simulations for EU biofuels consumption above 5.6% of road transport fuels show that ILUC emissions can rapidly increase and erode the environmental sustainability of biofuels. More