Developing an African Sustainable Energy Agenda: The Biofuels Option and Policy Implications

1. Developing an African Sustainable Energy Agenda: The Biofuels Option and Policy Implications UN CSD 14 SIDE EVENT MERSIE EJIGU PRESIDENT & CEO, PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICAN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY (PAES) SENIOR FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY & SUSTAINABILITY (FESS)

2. What are we? • PAES – non profit organization created to promote sustainable development in Africa based on best practices and focuses on policy studies, policy development and SD strategic planning • FESS - a public policy entity established with US Congressional mandate to advance knowledge and develop practical solutions to address environmental conditions that pose risks to national, regional, and global security and stability. • FESS & PAES jointly conduct environmental / energy security assessment of how changes in the environment and energy conditions contribute to situations of vulnerability, instability, insecurity, and/or conflict based on analytical framework called ESAF.

3. Impact of high energy costs • Political effect - breeds social grievances, increase political tensions, creates conditions for political instability • Examples: the 1979 riots in Liberia sparked by the high prices of rice – the staple food – which was due to high petrol prices. Liberia experienced political instability for twenty five years • The late 1973/1974 taxi drivers strike in Ethiopia that created chain of events and ended with the overthrow of the Haile Selassie regime. Ethiopia never had stability since then. • Income effect – makes the poor poorer, frustrates efforts to reduce poverty, widens income disparity and halts the transition from subsistence to commercial economy • Trade and mobility effect - hinders trade volume and efficiency as well as factor mobility

4. Impact of high energy costs (cont.) • Ecological effect - accelerates the pace of environmental degradation as households increase use of charcoal and fuel wood • Social effect - forces women to spend more time gathering wood, less time to participate in social programs and be economically productive • Substitution effect – encourages investment in and production of renewable energy sources

5. High Energy Prices – Winners and Losers? • Short term great losers – women and environment • Short term great winners – oil companies • In the medium to long term – Every human being is a loser as our planet loses and its ecosystem disintegrates

6. The African Setting in a Nutshell • Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for over 80% of the population • Rural livelihoods are increasingly being threatened by land and water scarcity • Over 90% of the energy is derived from biomass (fuel wood, charcoal, animal waste). Energy wastage is high too. • Only 7% of the hydropower and 0.6% of the geothermal energy of Africa’s potential is exploited

8. What are biofuels? • Liquid ethanol and diesel as well as gas derived from plants and agricultural crops • Used for cooking, transportation, and lighting. • Involve converting plant material into fuel directly from the: • fatty acids in vegetable oils and • carbohydrates that make up about 75% of a plant's dried weight.

9. Why biofuels in Africa? • An option to be explored and developed while harnessing other renewabls, e.g. hydropower, geothermal, solar, etc. • Production could be based on widely growing plants and agricultural crops in the region • Uses easily transferable and adaptable technologies • Benefits a large segment of the farming population • Helps meet poverty reduction and environmental recovery targets

10. Biofuels - Policy Challenges • Most national energy policies mention biofuels as a passing remark • Several parallel sectoral and global environment convention driven policy initiatives • Inadequate policy enforcement mechanisms to push the biofuels agenda • Government should take the lead, but have limited capacity

11. Biofuels: Economic Challenges • Affordable and adaptable biofuel technologies • Avoiding competition with the food sector. • Making biofuels price competitive with petroleum • Balancing large scale and peasant based (out growers scheme) production

12. Biofuels - Environmental Challenges • Current biofuels feedstock, e.g., palm oil, soybean, sugarcane, corn and oil seeds tend to accelerate environmental degradation • Need to develop less soil fertility depleting and highly drought resistant plant sources of biofuels suited for different agro-ecological zones

13. Biofuels -Technology Challenges • Expanding the production of biofuels based on conversion of all materials of a plant: • glucose into ethanol – current practice • vegetable oils or fats into fatty acids and then to methyl or ethyl esters – current practice • the carbohydrates directly into the long-chain hydrocarbons • Raising the energy efficiency of biofuels crops and plants – converting glucose into ethanol is an energy intensive process because of the energy it takes to boil ethanol away from water at the end of the fermentation.

14. What can be done? • Biofuels is a viable option for the attainment of energy security • Need a three pronged strategy • Policy development • Public awareness raising focused capacity development • Strengthening and expanding research • An integrated package of nationally owned and driven process: policy development, awareness raising and research • Strong and focused implementation partners

15. Biofuels: policy agenda • Ensuring adequate legal provisions for the production, distribution, use and trade in biofuels • Political commitment accompanied by a target, e.g., 15% of the country’s energy requirement to be met by biofuels in 2015 • Integrating energy policy and biofuels targets into national and local poverty reduction strategies

16. What is needed to push the biofuels agenda? • A unified approach that maximizes the potential policy impact among UN agencies, for example, there is need to merge the UNCTAD Biofuels and the FAO Bioenergy Initiatives