Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model

Evaluation of indirect land-use changes due to biofuels has been very controversial over the past few years, as doubts have arisen about the environmental benefits of growing crops for use as a substitute for fossil fuels. This paper presents an overview of the MIRAGE-BioF CGE modeling approach to b...

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Main Authors: Laborde Debucquet, David, Valin, Hugo
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: World Scientific Publishing 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153226
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author Laborde Debucquet, David
Valin, Hugo
author_browse Laborde Debucquet, David
Valin, Hugo
author_facet Laborde Debucquet, David
Valin, Hugo
author_sort Laborde Debucquet, David
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Evaluation of indirect land-use changes due to biofuels has been very controversial over the past few years, as doubts have arisen about the environmental benefits of growing crops for use as a substitute for fossil fuels. This paper presents an overview of the MIRAGE-BioF CGE modeling approach to biofuel policies assessment. Our framework introduces new innovative features that strengthen the relevance of the methodology. In particular, a more detailed and consistent database has been developed to represent the sectors and substitution mechanisms at play. Moreover, the model used has been improved in several important ways to better reproduce the agricultural supply function and land-use change. However, we also emphasize the critical uncertainties that prevent us from being able to provide a precise two-digit figure on the extent of land-use change and associated emissions. We illustrate these efforts with the case of EU biofuel mandates implications. We show that emissions from the current national targets in the EU could lead to an indirect effect of land-use expansion ranging from 1 ha per TJ consumed to 12 ha per TJ with a median value of 3.4 ha per TJ. The associated emissions in a 20-year period would range from 10 gCO2 /MJ to 115 gCO2 /MJ, with a median value of 38 gCO2/MJ . These results seriously question the sustainability of the current EU biofuels policy and emphasize the even more dramatic effect of a biodiesel-oriented EU biofuel program, which was found to emit two times more than an EU ethanol-oriented program.
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spelling CGSpace1532262025-12-08T10:29:22Z Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model Laborde Debucquet, David Valin, Hugo agriculture land use climate change biofuels agricultural policies models computable general equilibrium models Evaluation of indirect land-use changes due to biofuels has been very controversial over the past few years, as doubts have arisen about the environmental benefits of growing crops for use as a substitute for fossil fuels. This paper presents an overview of the MIRAGE-BioF CGE modeling approach to biofuel policies assessment. Our framework introduces new innovative features that strengthen the relevance of the methodology. In particular, a more detailed and consistent database has been developed to represent the sectors and substitution mechanisms at play. Moreover, the model used has been improved in several important ways to better reproduce the agricultural supply function and land-use change. However, we also emphasize the critical uncertainties that prevent us from being able to provide a precise two-digit figure on the extent of land-use change and associated emissions. We illustrate these efforts with the case of EU biofuel mandates implications. We show that emissions from the current national targets in the EU could lead to an indirect effect of land-use expansion ranging from 1 ha per TJ consumed to 12 ha per TJ with a median value of 3.4 ha per TJ. The associated emissions in a 20-year period would range from 10 gCO2 /MJ to 115 gCO2 /MJ, with a median value of 38 gCO2/MJ . These results seriously question the sustainability of the current EU biofuels policy and emphasize the even more dramatic effect of a biodiesel-oriented EU biofuel program, which was found to emit two times more than an EU ethanol-oriented program. 2012-08 2024-10-01T13:55:49Z 2024-10-01T13:55:49Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153226 en Limited Access World Scientific Publishing Laborde Debucquet, David; Valin, Hugo 2012. Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model. Climate Change Economics 3(3): 1250017_1-1250017_39
spellingShingle agriculture
land use
climate change
biofuels
agricultural policies
models
computable general equilibrium models
Laborde Debucquet, David
Valin, Hugo
Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model
title Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model
title_full Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model
title_fullStr Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model
title_full_unstemmed Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model
title_short Modeling land-use changes in a global CGE: Assessing the EU biofuel mandates with the MIRAGE-BioF model
title_sort modeling land use changes in a global cge assessing the eu biofuel mandates with the mirage biof model
topic agriculture
land use
climate change
biofuels
agricultural policies
models
computable general equilibrium models
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153226
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