(107b) Land Use Change Effects on Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Bio-Based Fuels and Pharmaceutical Products

Over the past decade, the production of corn ethanol and of biodiesel from plant oils such as soybean, rapeseed, and palm oils has experienced rapid growth and increased international market demand. This demand for biofuel feedstocks is beginning to affect decision by farmers to produce crops for fuel as opposed to food. This competition for farm land to satisfy simultaneous demands for fuel and for food, as well as other factors such as higher costs for energy, fertilizers, and other farm chemicals, has resulted in higher commodity food prices on a global scale (World Bank 2008). In addition, biofuels produced from agricultural lands that compete directly with food production have been implicated with global-scale land use change ?carbon debt? (Searchinger et al. 2008, Fargione et al. 2008). Biofuels directives in the European Union and in the USA are considering requirements that biofuels producers and biomass feedstock suppliers demonstrate that the entire life cycle of biofuels are sustainability.

The purpose of this presentation is to review and explore the land use change issue from the standpoint of both direct and indirect effects. The primary focus will be on biofuels due their potential for large-scale land use change. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the potential impacts of the pharmaceutical industry in the US on the land use change issue.

References

Fargione, J., Hill, J., Tilman, D., Polasky, S., Hawthorne, P. 2008, Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt, Science, www.sciencexpress.org / 7 February 2008 / Page 1 / 10.1126/science.1152747

Searchinger, T, Heimlich, R., Houghton, R.A., Dong, F., Elobeid, A., Fabiosa, J., Tokgoz, S., Hayes, D., Yu, T-Y. 2008, Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land use change, Science, www.sciencexpress.org / 7 February 2008 / Page 1 / 10.1126/science.1151861

World Bank, 2008, Rising Food Prices: Policy Options and World Ban Response, April 9, 2008, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21722688~pag...