Autore
Bozzini, Emanuela

Titolo
The Sustainability of Biofuels. A Comparison of EU and US Policy Debates
Periodico
Sociologica
Anno: 2012 - Volume: 16 - Fascicolo: 2 - Pagina iniziale: 0

For a long time ethanol and biodiesel made from corn, rapeseed, and sugar beetshave been regarded a win-win solution to a series of intractable issues about oil dependency,greenhouse gas emission reductions and revitalization of rural areas. Both the European Unionand the United States started ambitious programs to incentivize the production and consumptionof biofuels, supporting crop productions with subsidies and tax exemptions and settingstandards for blending them with conventional fuels. Recently however, a growing number ofexperts and activists have channelled doubts about the sustainability of the technology andclaims to revise current policies. The advantages and disadvantages of biofuels have been widelydiscussed both in EU and US policy processes, leading to different policy decisions. While theEU progressively reduced the initial targets for biofuel production and introduced a series ofsustainability criteria to regulate production, the US confirmed and increased over time its initialpolicy goals. The article aims at explaining such differences in policy by comparing the evolutionof the biofuel debates in EU and US. The paper is based on an extensive analysis of publichearings held by the European Commission and the US Congress and argues that differencesin policy outputs can be explained making reference to differences in criteria for dealing withuncertain and contrasting evidence on the economic and ecologic sustainability of this specifictechnology.



SICI: 1971-8853(2012)16:2<0:TSOBAC>2.0.ZU;2-
Testo completo: http://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.2383/38267
Testo completo alternativo: http://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.2383/38267

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