Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the effects of climate change (e.g. increased flood protection) to weigh-up the
benefits of taking any particular action. The EPA in the US and DECC in the UK
commonly use such approaches to benchmark the cost benefit of policy support
for low-carbon-oriented legislation.
The difficulty in both cases is that the resulting markets are dependent, at least
in the short to medium term, on the decisions of policymakers and changes in
government on a relatively regular basis, compared to the medium- and long-term
timescales associated with technology development and deployment timeframes.
Policymakers have to recognise this and provide sufficient safeguards.
This uncertainty significantly increases the risk for investment in such sectors.
However, as is seen in Section  8.5, not all commercial developments in the
biobased sector rely exclusively on policy support to promote their development;
in some cases, a market advantage can be developed.
Policy drivers also differ globally depending on regional political priorities. In
the US the primary diver has been to reduce dependency on fossil fuel imports
from unstable regions. In the EU, responding to commitments made as part of
International Climate Change Agreements has been the key driver for change.
Transport accounts for around a quarter of the US energy demand and most of its
oil imports. In the EU as a whole, transport accounts for a quarter of GHG
emissions. It is therefore clear to see why the development of biofuels has been
supported in both the US and EU, driven by supportive policy measures to deliver
what has become a global commodity market in bioethanol and biodiesel fuels.
Policies to support the greening of power and heat generation have followed,
focusing on GHG reduction priorities.
Although there are strategies, policies and incentives to support the development
of biofuels and bioenergy, with very definitive targets and measures to ensure
delivery, there has been little or no direct support to encourage the development of
biobased chemicals or materials widely in Europe. These sectors have had to rely
on indirect support, development of increased environmental awareness in
corporate decision-making, and technical development and cost reduction to build
an increasing market share.
In contrast to Europe, the US has been much more pro-active and adopted an
approach to stimulate market development for chemicals and materials through its
BioPreferred Programme (see Section 8.4.2.1).
8.4.2
Policy Mechanisms
Primarily driven by the transport and power sector, a number of policy instruments
such as those listed in the following have been developed to directly encourage
and promote adoption of biobased alternatives.
Feed-in tariffs : typically used to support renewable heat and power production
where a regulated, minimum guaranteed unit price is paid to private producers
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