Sustainability in Biofuel and Bioenergy Sectors: The Role of Public Policy

I will give an overview of the existing policies and the development of the biofuel and bioenergy sectors in the US and summarize the empirical findings of a large-scale economic simulation model we developed for the US agriculture and biofuel/bioenergy sectors.  The talk will focus on the role of alternative policy designs, in particular the RFS blending mandates, subsidies, and trade policies. The model includes a Brazil component similar to the US component and we have conducted some analyses for the Brazil ethanol industry as well (impacts of ethanol pipelines, changes in gasoline pricing and blending mandates, etc.).