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Mitigating climate change is a global concern. Biofuels should, therefore, be produced in those parts of the world where they can make the most effective and efficient contribution to reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.

Jatropha biofuel plantations contribute to climate change mitigation by significantly reducing GHG emissions as compared to fossil fuels.

Biodiesel reduces emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) by approximately 50 % and carbon dioxide (CO2) by 78 % on a net lifecycle basis because the carbon in biodiesel emissions is recycled from carbon that was already in the atmosphere, rather than being new carbon from petroleum that was sequestered in the earth’s crust. CO2 emitted during the combustion of biofuels does not contribute to net emissions of carbon dioxide because these emissions have already been absorbed by plants during growth. As a consequence, green house gas (GHG) emissions will be reduced as the fuel crops absorb the carbon dioxide (CO2) they emit through growing.

The increased concentration of key greenhouse gases (GHG) is a direct consequence of human activities. Since anthropogenic greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, they produce net warming by strengthening the natural “greenhouse effect”. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been increasing over the past century compared to the rather steady level of the pre-industrial era (about 280 parts per million in volume, or ppmv). The 2005 concentration of CO2 (379 ppmv) was about 35% higher than a century and a half ago, with the fastest growth occurring in the last 10 years (1.9ppmv/year in the period 1995-2005). Comparable growth has also occurred in levels of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).

While electricity and heat generation draws from various energy sources, the transport sector relies almost entirely on oil (94% of the energy used for transport came from oil in 2007). The share of transport in global oil emissions was close to 60% in 2007. While CO2 emissions from oil consumption in most sectors remained nearly steady in absolute terms since 1971, those of transport more than doubled. Dominated by road traffic, this end-use sector is the strongest driver of world dependence on oil.

Aviation & Climate Change Impact

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Emissions from aviation have nearly twice the warming effect than carbon dioxide emissions on the ground. One kilogram of aviation fuel (kerosene) produces about three kilograms of CO2. According a 1999 report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, aviation is responsible for two percent of global CO2 emissions, and about 13 percent of CO2 emissions from transport.

Those figures are continuously rising. A 2007 report by U.S., European, and British aviation agencies predicts that by 2025 annual global CO2 emissions from airplanes will grow by 50 to 70 percent to between 1.2 and 1.5 billion tons. To put that in perspective, the total annual CO2 emissions of the European Union in 2004 was 3.1 billion tons.

The aviation sector is committed to achieve carbon neutral growth by 2020 and globally, airlines are looking to implement new initiatives and incentives to reduce their carbon footprint. The sector is primarily focusing on biofuels from second generation sources such as jatropha. Of the various CO2 abatement levers for the aviation industry, the phasing in of sustainable “green” biofuels offers the highest carbon reduction potential. Among the limited range of energy crops that do not compete with food crops for land and water, jatropha holds the most promising position.

Challenge ahead

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Power generation and transport challenge the sustainability of both the global economy and the environment. This is particularly pronounced for developing countries that increased their emissions from these two sectors, respectively, by three times and by one and a half times faster than the global average between 1990 and 2007. Access to modern energy services is crucial to eradicating poverty and for economic development of these countries and the challenge will be to help developing countries use energy in a rational way.

Strong energy efficiency gains, the increased use of new technologies for road transport and the de-carbonization of electricity supply (both through a shift toward less carbon-intensive fuels such as natural gas and renewable and through the introduction of CO2 capture and storage) are some of the potential means to achieve a more sustainable energy path.

After years of industrialization, the world can only emit some 750 to 1000 gigatons of CO2 more until 2050, if we want to have a fair chance of keeping global warming below 2°C. The question is how to share out this carbon budget? Industrialized countries would benefit from a GDP share-based allocation. An equal per capita allocation of CO2 permits would be more advantageous for developing countries. Developing countries, however, will need some headroom to allow them to catch up economically.