The Policy Context of Biofuels: A Case of Non-Governance at the Global Level?

Mairon G. Bastos Lima and Joyeeta Gupta
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Mairon G. Bastos Lima: Mairon G. Bastos Lima is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU University Amsterdam.
Joyeeta Gupta: Joyeeta Gupta is professor of climate change law and policy at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU University Amsterdam and at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft.

Global Environmental Politics, 2013, vol. 13, issue 2, 46-64

Abstract: The large-scale production of crop-based biofuels has been one of the fastest and most controversial global changes of recent years. Global biofuel outputs increased six-fold between 2000 and 2010, and a growing number of countries are adopting biofuel promotion policies. Meanwhile, multilateral bodies have been created, and a patchwork of biofuel policies is emerging. This article investigates the global biofuel policy context and analyzes its nature, its institutional architecture, and issues of access and allocation. Our assessment reveals a density of national policies but a paucity of international consensus on norms and rules. We argue that the global biofuel context remains a non-regime and that it has overlooked serious issues of access even as a risky North-South allocation pattern is created. Although biofuel governance is not completely absent, existing international institutions do not take account of the different voices in the debate and leave a large vacuum of unaddressed social and environmental issues. © 2013 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Keywords: biofuels; global biofuel policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q16 Q17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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