Biofuels could provide up to 27% of world transportation fuel by 2050, says IEA report

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that the widespread deployment of biofuels can play an important role in reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector, while enhancing energy security. When produced sustainably, the global share of biofuel in total transport fuel could grow to 27% in 2050, says the report.

The IEA report ‘Technology Roadmap Biofuels for Transport’ shows how global biofuel consumption can increase in a sustainable way , from 55 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) today to 750 Mtoe in 2050; this would mean that the global share of biofuel in total transport fuel would grow from 2% today to 27% in 2050. Biofuels could eventually provide one fifth of emission reductions in the transport sector.

With the transportation industry growing considerably, and demand for transport fuels rising globally, the IEA assesses biofuels as one of the key technologies to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce dependency on liquid transport fuels.  The IEA is an intergovernmental organisation founded in response to the 1973/4 oil crisis. Presently, the IEA works to ensure energy security for its 28 member countries.

Speaking at the launch of the report in Washington D.C., Bo Diczfalusy, the IEA’s Director of Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology, said the transport sector needs a low-carbon fuel alternative: “While vehicle efficiency will be the most important and most cost-efficient way to reduce transport-emissions, biofuels will still be needed to provide low-carbon fuel alternatives for planes, marine vessels and other heavy transport modes.”

Diczfalusy went on to stress the importance of sustainability: “With world population growing by more than 30% to 9 billion people in 2050, and food demand increasing approximately 70% according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, competition of biofuel production for land with food, fodder, as well as fiber production needs to be carefully addressed to avoid negative impacts from biofuel expansion on food security.”

The report concludes that reducing tariffs and other trade barriers will be important to expanding the trade in biomass and biofuels to reach the levels necessary to meet emerging demand in different regions of the world. International co-operation will also be needed to further develop analyses of sustainable land and biomass potentials, and obtain detailed regional data on suitable feedstocks for biofuel production.

The IEA prepared the report in consultation with representatives of government, industry, academia and non-governmental organizations. The roadmap provides an overview of the current status of different conventional and advanced biofuel technologies and the latest research on sustainability issues related to biofuel production, and charts a course for expanding the production and use of biofuels to 2050.

Read the full report online: http://www.iea.org/papers/2011/biofuels_roadmap.pdf