From a rise in B to a fall in C? Environmental impact of biofuels

Giuseppe Piroli, Miroslava Rajcaniova, Pavel Ciaian and d'Artis Kancs

EERI Research Paper Series from Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels

Abstract: This is the first paper that econometrically estimates the impact of the rising Bioenergy production on the global CO2 emissions. We apply a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) approach to time series with annual observation for the world biofuel production and global CO2 emissions from 1961 to 2009. We find that in the medium- to long-run biofuels significantly reduce global CO2 emissions: the CO2 emission elasticities with respect to biofuels range between -0.57 and -0.80. In the short-run, however, biofuels may increase CO2 emissions temporarily (elasticity 0.57). Our findings complement those of life-cycle assessment and simulation models. However, by employing a more holistic approach and obtaining more robust estimates of environmental impact of biofuels, our results are particularly valuable for policy makers.

Keywords: Biofuels; C02 emissions; environmental impact; SVAR. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 C22 C51 D58 Q11 Q13 Q42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-sog
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http://www.eeri.eu/documents/wp/EERI_RP_2014_01.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: From a rise in B to a fall in C? SVAR analysis of environmental impact of biofuels (2015)
Working Paper: From a rise in B to a fall in C? SVAR analysis of environmental impact of biofuels (2015)
Working Paper: From a rise in B to a fall in C? SVAR analysis of environmental impact of biofuels (2015)
Working Paper: From rise in B to fall in C? Global environmental impacts of biofuels (2014)
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