The biofuels sector has seen increased activity over the past few years. Recently, it has been in the eye of a veritable media storm. While Governments across the world have put in place mandates and subsidy schemes to encourage production of biofuels, there have also been a number of cautioning voices, warning of the dangers of biofuel production. There was clear evidence of diverging opinions and diverse points of view surrounding the issue at a recent conference in London.

Several of these issues were addressed at Bioenergy Europe 2008, a two-day conference organised by Environmental Finance. Dr Kyriakos Maniatis, DG Energy and Transport, European Commission outlined the EU policy, targets and provided an update on developments. He spoke of the upcoming directive on fuel quality which is currently in discussion in the Commission and the need to ensure that biofuels fulfil the sustainability criteria.

Other speakers included Ian Waller, an independent consultant who spoke on the impact of legislation, tax incentives and subsidies on biofuels investment. He stressed that while policy factors would drive the European policy forward, the carbon count would become the most important factor to consider in the UK.

On the other hand, Robert Vierhout, Secretary General, European Bioethanol Fuel Association who spoke on the prospects of Bioethanol in Europe, said there was a need for a level playing field with the fuel industry. He felt the biofuels industry had been singled out for a greater degree of scrutiny as they have to meet stringent criteria. He felt that this was unfair, as the fossil fuel industry did not have to meet such requirements.

Both days of the conference saw lively panel discussions. While the theme for the panel discussion on Day One was based on the food vs. fuel and land use debate, Day Two saw two panel debates. The first was concerned with ‘opportunities and challenges in investing in Bioenergy’, which was followed by ‘certification and enviromental issues’. These discussions brought to the fore the complexity of the issues surrounding the production of biofuels.

The latter panel discussion saw how sharply opinion is divided. Mark Avery, Director of Conservation, RSPB, quoted Nobel- winning chemist Paul Crutzen and a recent paper by The Royal Society to say that several non-governmental organisations were rapidly falling out of love with biofuels which were ‘land hungry’ and directly implicated in rising food prices and decreasing biodiversity, the world over.

On the other hand, Edgare Kerkwijk, Managing Director, Biox Group,  an international company, specialising in the field of sustainable energy, highlighted available market opportunity. He said that companies needed to ensure that they complied with the sustainability criteria, as even these constraints represented an opportunity for the industry. Fellow-panelist Sagarika Chatterjee, Senior Analyst F&C Management outlined concerns from an investor’s point of view on the fledgling industry.

The conference ended with Paul Bateson, Chief Operating Officer, Greenergy, a leading biofuels supplier in the UK, identifying the future market drivers for biofuels. He spoke about the impact of UK and EU policy measures and prospects for biofuel sourcing.

Environmental Finance, the organisers of the conference, succeeded in bringing samples of the various different opinions surrounding increased biofuel production in the EU under one roof.