The Seven Commandments of Mexican biofuels: from social justice to sustainability

In a very interesting essay Ricardo Cantú of Mexico's School of Public and Political Administration at Monterey's Technological University explores how one might go about creating a sustainable ethanol economy that simultaneously serves the interests of social justice, the environment, and energy security, in the context of Mexico. A project much like that of the Biopact, focused on Sub-Saharan Africa.

The overriding goal emerging from Cantú's excellent paper titled "Ethanolomics: The Think-About's of the Mexican Ethanol Project" [*.pdf] is to devise a strategy for improving the living standards of the rural poor in Mexico via an invigoration of the agricultural economy, boosting energy security for the population at large while limiting the catastrophic effects of high oil prices on the poor, and contributing to the fight against climate change by producing fuels that effectively reduce carbon emissions.

In theory, biofuels "could potentially [...] solve all of the above problems" writes Cantú, an argument voiced by many biofuel proponents in the Global South (and partially by organisations like the FAO, the WorldWatch Institute and the IEA). Plant based alternatives to oil could:

diminish the global ecological harm that the fossil fuels are making; lessen the economical dependence of some countries with the global markets and foreign policies [...]; be a renewable energy source, because it would use biomass inputs; and power up rural economical dynamism.

But this is theory. The same theory set out in our 'Biofuels Manifesto'. In reality, biofuels can go two ways: either perpetuating social injustices, concentrating power in an ever smaller number of hands, and damaging the environment, or they can become an engine for poverty alleviation, rural revival, a healthier environment, reduce hunger and bring global social justice. In order to make sure biofuels take the latter path, Cantú provides a set of ground rules. It won't be easy to follow them, but it is not impossible either. The guidelines are:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: ethanol :: climate change :: poverty alleviation :: rural development :: energy security :: Mexico ::

1. Over the whole chain, the use of biomass should produce fewer emissions of greenhouse gases net than on average with fossil fuel.
2. Production of biomass for energy must not endanger the food supply and other local applications (such as for medicines or building materials).
3. Biomass production must not affect protected or vulnerable biodiversity and will, where possible, have to strengthen biodiversity.
4. In the production and processing of biomass, the quality of soil, surface and ground water and air must be retained or even increased.
5. The production of biomass must contribute towards local prosperity.
6. The production of biomass must contribute towards the social well being of the employees and the local population.
7. The overall ethanol production costs should be cheaper and more accessible than that of the fossil fuels, or at least the same level, excluding all the subsidies or tax benefits to the producers or distributors.

That's quite a checklist. Over at Salon, Andrew Leonard, in his typically succinct and sharp way, picks one of these to see what it really means: The production of biomass must contribute towards local prosperity.

Cantú stresses that a key requirement of a biofuel economy in Mexico is that the farmers capture the rewards of their production. In other words, one wants to avoid a situation in which farmers sell their sugar cane or maize or sorghum at rock-bottom prices to middlemen who then grab all the upstream profits. Cantú envisions farmer cooperatives setting up their own ethanol mills, and dealing directly with distributors.

Such a model is not uncommon in the U.S. and in Europe, and there's no reason, in principle, it couldn't work in Mexico or in other developing countries, says Leonard. But it would require strong government leadership and the sharp eye of civil society organisations to check whether policies are enacted.

Indeed, to achieve all the goals outlined above would require a tightly regulated market with significant government intervention: in other words, a direct repudiation of the kind of Washington Consensus policies of deregulation and privatization that the West has been pushing on Latin America and elsewhere for decades.

References:
Ricardo Cantú, "Ethanolomics: The Think-About’s of the Mexican Ethanol Project" [*.pdf], Cátedra de Integración Económica y Desarrollo Social, Escuela de Graduados en Administración Pública y Politica Pública, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Working Paper No. 2007-3.

Salon: The Seven Commandments of Mexican ethanol - September 28, 2007.

Biopact: Worldwatch Institute chief: biofuels could end global malnourishment - August 23, 2007

Biopact: FAO chief calls for a 'Biopact' between the North and the South - August 15, 2007

Biopact: IEA report: bioenergy can meet 20 to 50% of world's future energy demand - September 12, 2007

Biopact: High oil prices disastrous for developing countries - September 12, 2007