Latin America's Blueprint for Green Energy

The IDB commissioned Garten Rothkopf, a consulting firm which works with corporations on long-term global strategies, to perform an analysis that would serve as a blueprint to its development of energy technologies in the Americas.

What is the IDB? According to their website. "The Inter-American Development Bank was established in 1959 as a development institution with novel mandates and tools. It is the main source of multilateral financing for economic, social and institutional development projects and trade and regional integration programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is the oldest and largest regional development bank."

This report begins with the major trends in global energy: the drivers of demand, the constraints on supply, and the twin imperatives of energy security and emissions reductions. The promise of biofuels is then assessed relative to the leading alternative technologies in the transport sector: hydrogen fuel cells and coal liquefaction. This is followed by the “Global Biofuels Outlook 2007”, an assessment of the state of biofuels in 50 countries on 6 continents, highlighting the critical areas of government policy, productive capacity, private sector investment, and research and development.

The report concludes with a blueprint for green energy in the Americas. This strategic blueprint is organized around the four pillars that they project will drive and shape competition and demand: innovation, capacity expansion, infrastructure, and building global markets.

The basic thesis is clear:

Coordination between the government, private sector, universities, and research institutions to strengthen the connection between the scientific research activities and practical technological needs of the sector is critical.

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A Blueprint for Green Energy in the Americas
Strategic Analysis of Opportunities for Brazil and the Hemisphere
Featuring: The Global Biofuels Outlook 2007
Prepared for the Inter-American Development Bank

We are in the midst of a sustainable energy and climate change revolution, directly linked to the other major transformational trends of our time-the rise of the world's emerging economies, the world's rapid urbanization and the revolution in biotechnology. While not a panacea, biofuels represent one important choice in an increasing array of energy options. They have a significant role to play in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from transport, developing rural economies, and attracting private sector investment.

This study, prepared by Garten Rothkopf for the Inter American Development Bank, seeks to cut through the hype surrounding biofuels, and alternative energy writ large, and present an objective, fact-based analysis of the region's global competitive position looking forward to 2020. It includes the most extensive study done to date on the global biofuels market, including 50 countries. The report also focuses on the challenges that lie ahead, from ensuring that the choices made are sustainable in terms of their environmental and social impact to recognizing that unprecedented investment and innovation will produce new competitive forces that will require all who would lead to adapt or fall behind.

The growth of biofuels will favor countries with long growing seasons, tropical climates, high precipitation levels, low labor costs, low land costs, as well as the planning, human resources, and technological know how to take advantage of them. Latin America and Caribbean, led by Brazil, already produces 40% of the world's biofuels and is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this growing industry.

"A Blueprint for Green Energy in the Americas" offers a strategic blueprint for IDB activities in the region, to serve as the basis for even more focused and policy-oriented studies in the future.

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