BIOFUELS: GLOBAL APPROACH OF WORLD’S GOVERNMENTS NECESSARY

Biofuels are going to be used in air transport on a wider scale. Governments are highly interested in the alternative source of energy. Environmentalists, however, claim it could cause more damage to the ecosystem. It seems that perhaps global aviation sector will some day fly on biofuel. Some companies like e.g. Virgin Atlantic test various biofuels in their planes. Most biofuels are derived from crops such as corn, sugarcane and rapeseed. According to the British think tank Policy Exchange, it is more important to focus on the use of biofuel in air travel than in cars. According to the organization, the EU should fund extensive research in this area. The EU is the world’s leader in fighting against global warming. European governments support the use of non fossil fuels and alternative power sources. According to the UK government, some 25 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions come from transport. The Policy Exchange states that the use of biofuels is vital if we want to continue traveling and cutting the emissions at the same time. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) a global approach by world’s governments is necessary to cut the green house emissions from air transport. As Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO, says there are three major goals: - There should be a 25 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency by 2020- Aircrafts should use 10 per cent alternative fuels by 2017- The emissions should be reduced by 50 per cent by 2050There have been some results already, as the emissions will fall by 8 per cent this year but it is mainly due to the crisis. Only 2 per cent of the decline can be assigned to the IATA actions.  Not only governments are interested in the use of biofuels. Exxon, the world"s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, has decided to invest some 600 million USD in producing liquid transportation fuels from algae.Nevertheless, critics claim the excessive use of the biofuels may have even worse impact on the environment than the use of fossil fuels. They claim the demand for biofuel will cause deforestation at bigger scale and will increase price of food for poor countries.  Related:AIRLINES COMMIT TO CARBON-NEUTRAL GROWTHWORLD AIRLINES SET FOR EVEN MORE DISASTROUS PERIODHISTORIC BIOFUEL FLIGHT CROSSES USA