Biofuel Policies: Subsidy vs. Carbon Tax

Govinda Timilsina (), Stefan Csordas () and Simon Mevel
Additional contact information
Simon Mevel: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Chapter Chapter 10 in The Impacts of Biofuels on the Economy, Environment, and Poverty, 2014, pp 123-129 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Large-scale deployment of cleaner energy sources and technologies through targeted policies is a key measure to reduce GHG emissions. Biofuels are such cleaner sources of energy particularly for the transport sector, a sector that offers only limited options to reduce emissions compared to other sectors such as power and industry. As of yet, biofuel penetration into the transportation fuel mix has only reached about 2 % globally. Biofuels lag in substituting fossil fuels due to high investment costs and rising input prices due to competing demands for feedstock. It is important to note, however, that fossil fuels are cheaper partly because pollution and negative externalities are not captured in its prices. Hence, a level playing field needs to be created between biofuels and fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel) either by subsidizing biofuels or taxing petroleum products. This chapter compares these two types of policies aimed at promoting biofuels.

Keywords: Deadweight Loss; Subsidy Rate; Clean Energy Source; High Income Nation; Percentage Point Change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nrmchp:978-1-4939-0518-8_10

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9781493905188

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-0518-8_10

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Natural Resource Management and Policy from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().