Economic and environmental implications of a target for bioplastics consumption: A CGE analysis

S. Haddad, N. Escobar and Wolfgang Britz

No 277240, 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia from International Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: Private and public initiatives worldwide encourage a shift towards more sustainable production and consumption patterns, including bioplastics. These are, however, essentially produced from food crops. Given the manifold support schemes for the promotion of bioenergy, bioplastic producers also claim for targeted policies. This can further increase competition for biomass globally, with unintended consequences for food prices and the environment. A comprehensive analysis of the effects of a 5% target for bioplastic consumption is presented based on Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) linked to environmental indicators. Both fossil-based plastics and bioplastics are implemented in the GTAP 9 database. Two scenarios are defined: scenario 1 increases consumption taxes on fossil-based plastics while scenario 2 decreases them for bioplastics . Although both generate an expansion of the sector, the tax performs better in economic and also environmental terms, partially due to the substitution for oilseeds in the major producing regions, which even generates afforestation in carbon-rich areas. Only the target in scenario 1 generates an increase in GDP per CO2-eq. saved at global scale. The study shows the usefulness of CGE models as a tool to analyze cost-effectiveness of Bioeconomy-related policies, provided that emerging bio-based sectors and novel technologies are adequately implemented. Acknowledgement : This research has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the project STRIVE (Sustainable Trade and Innovation Transfer in the Bioeconomy). More information at: www.strive-bioecon.de

Keywords: Environmental; Economics; and; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp and nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Economic and environmental implications of a target for bioplastics consumption: A CGE analysis (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:iaae18:277240

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.277240

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