## 1.4 Conflicting interests

The premises of the bio-based economy include climate change mitigation, cleaner production processes, an opportunity to achieve circular value chains, more efficient use of bio-based resources, collaboration in efforts to address sustainability issues, and new types of governance of bio-based resources on a global scale (Bennich and Belyazid, 2017). However, there are also issues that need more attention. For example the food-fuel debate or deforestation.

1.4.1. Food-fuel debate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQBw9JsBnI4

The central question in the food-fuel debate is whether the use of biomass for biofuels is competing with food supply. Biofuel production has increased in recent years. Some commodities like maize (corn), sugar cane or vegetable oil can be used either as food, feed, or to make biofuels. For example, since 2006, a portion of land that was also formerly used to grow other crops in the United Stated is now used to grow corn for biofuels, and a larger share of corn is destined to ethanol production, reaching 25% in 2007. The public sentiment was that less food was available for human consumption, especially in developing and least developed countries, where a family's daily allowances for food purchases are extremely limited. The debate reached a global scale due to the 2007-2009 world food prices crisis. World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the first half year of 2008 creating a global crisis and causing political and economic instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate.

Initial causes of the late-2006 price spikes included droughts in grain-producing nations and rising oil prices. Oil price increases also caused general escalations in the costs of fertilizers, food transportation, and industrial agriculture. Main causes may be the increasing use of biofuels in developed countries and an increasing demand for a more varied diet across the expanding middle-class populations of Asia. These factors, coupled with falling world-food stockpiles all contributed to the worldwide rise in food prices. Although the rise of food prices cannot be fully contributed to the production of first generation biofuels, the food fuel debate had an enormous impact on the European and Dutch view on the use of biomass. For example, EU directives were changed in time.

Old directive:

Under the Directive 2003/30/EC on the promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewable fuels for transport, EU established the goal of reaching a 5.75% share of renewable energy in the transport sector by 2010.

New directive:

Under the Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources this share rises to a minimum 10% in every Member State in 2020. Regarding the expand of biofuels use in the EU, the Directive aims to ensure the use of sustainable biofuels only, which generate a clear and net GHG saving without negative impact on biodiversity and land use.

Since the crisis Dutch efforts in the biobased economy were focussed on second and third generation biofuels and the use of biomass for biomaterials & biochemicals instead of biofuels.

1.4.2. Indirect land use change (ILUC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igUtLwruUjA

If a country uses land to growth other crops for biomass for replacement of fossil fuels, than other countries can decide to growth the replaced crops. This could result in deforestation and as a consequence there is a release of more carbon emissions. This is due to land-use changes around the world induced by the expansion of croplands for ethanol or biodiesel production in response to the increased global demand for biofuels.