EDITORIAL

Ethics and biofuels
Biofuels (2011) 2(3), xxx–xxx´As policies are implemented involving biofuels, we need to continue research to understand theethical, environmental, economic, and social impacts of biofuels over many life cycles.

µDarryl Macer†
Development of society and human life requires energy.
Where can we obtain energy most ethically? How muchenergy do we need to live an ethical and good life? Thegaps between the rich and the poor with regards toaccess to and use of energy are critical ethical issues
facing global society. The logic of biofuels is simple –namely use of the renewable energy of the sun in photosynthesis to produce plants that can be used as fuelto counter the rising prices of petroleum and oil thatour global society depends upon. There has been a lotof rhetoric about biofuels, so let us consider the ethics
of decisions made about them.
There are a number of ethical principles that areapplied to assist in decision making about the use ofscience and technology. These include beneficence,nonmaleficence, autonomy and justice. The foundationof research into biofuel technology is beneficence – tomake the world a better place. Beneficence is the foundation of most scientific research, although each application can benefit (or harm) different groups withinsociety. If we can reduce the predicted climate change
associated with pollution from the use of fossil fuels,
we will benefit a number of species that would haveotherwise gone extinct.

The principle of non-maleficence is to avoid harm. It
is the reason why we need to closely examine any pollution produced as a result of biofuel use, and compare
it to alternatives. Within biofuel options there is variation about the types of negative impacts, which include
land and water use, and social impact. Some biofueloptions, such as biogas, can reduce the effluent pollution stemming from agriculture, and utilize outputs ofagriculture once considered as waste. These would be
an example of reduction of harm being caused by alternatives, and seem to be very favorable for our ana lysis.
The positive and negative effects of biofuels depend
not only on which feedstock is used, but also on howthat feedstock is produced, how it affects landusechange and to what extent its production is scaled up.
Phalan argued that control of land-use change associated with biofuel production ‘resembles traffic control inan anarchic state: that is, there are traffic laws but they
are rarely observed’ [1] . What sort of controls work andwhat should the ethical basis for these be?
Ethics is more than simply examining the pluses
and minuses of an action, but an important issue is theextent of the circle within which the moral community
lies. Who is a moral agent? A moral agent possesses†

Regional Adviser in Social & Human Sciences for Asia & the Pacific, Regional Unit for Social & Human Sciences in Asia & the Pacific, United Nations
Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization Bangkok, 920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel.: +66 2391 0577, Ext. 141; E-mail: d.macer@unesco.org

future science group10.4155/BFS.11.22 © 2011 Future Science Ltd

ISSN 1759-7269

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Editorial

Macerautonomy and self-rule, and within a wide range of limits, people are given autonomy in their choice of energy
use if they have money. A libertarian approach would
argue that the only ethical restriction of someone’s liberty is when it will harm others. The term ‘others’ iscritical here, as we consider the global community to
be more than just members of our nation or species, butwhole ecosystems, over generations.
A wide variety of questions have been asked on theethics of biofuels that relate to the principle of nonmaleficence to others. What is the effect of biofuel production on food costs, especially for poor populations? Whois poor, or vulnerable? How many generations should
we make ethical calculations for? Should land be used
for biofuel compared with nature reserves, ecofriendly
housing estates full of self-sufficient residential housing
units or blocks of solar panels? Are there better uses forthat land?
The threats facing biodiversity are many, and anthropogenic causes of climate change are one factor in a
myriad of activities that adversely affect biodiversity.
The Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992 showedthat wide-ranging policy on species protection in theinternational forum is a viable course of action. If landis sowed with genetically modified crops and monocultures, this will reduce biodiversity. Over 1 billion ha ofgenetically modified crops are now grown in the world,
and a significant proportion of these are used for biofuel
production [2] .
A recent study of the ethical issues of the use of algal
technology suggests that if subsidies given to otherforms of biofuel energy such as ethanol conversion frommaize, as well as to oil production, were reapplied tosupport algal technology, significantly less land would
be required for sufficient biofuels to replace all transportfuel markets [3] . This would appear to be positive froman ethical point of view, however, a holistic ana lysis
would need to be done to see the impact upon societiesthat such agricultural and energy related subsidies have.
Ethical ana lysis also depends on whether we take ananthropocentric (human-centered), biocentric or ecocentric view of the problems. A biocentric approach values particular biological species, be they Homo sapiens,
dogs, trees or fungi. An ecocentric view focuses on acomplete ecosystem ana lysis over time, of a forest, coral
reef, or farm. Depending on our viewpoint the process
and conclusions of ethical ana lysis will be different. We
can see certain policies that are biocentric, such as acts
to protect endangered species by name or primates dueto their intelligence. However, the majority of laws are
based on an anthropocentric approach.
Some countries, such as Thailand, pursue biofuel
production for reasons of national energy security,
combined with agricultural capacity. Ethical ana lysis

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Biofuels (2011) 2(3)includes not just technology issues, but issues ofhuman security, freedom from fear, want and need.
Political concerns are part of an ethical ana lysis. If wethink nationally then it may be reasonable to change
land use from rice production to more biofuel production. However, globally, when food insecurity affects
1 billion persons, land taken away from food production simply means less food. The issue here is also how
to define the limits of the moral community. Whobenefits and who loses?
These issues are not totally novel, as seen in thedebates over the transition from subsistence farming tocash crops for export. Countries considering the adoption of biofuel campaigns should carefully consider theimpact of the subsidy schemes and tax incentives thatare used to encourage farmers to change agricultural
patterns. It may not be easy to convert back to subsistence farming if the policy results in a breakdown ofsociety that could be seen as harmful. Societies are morethan a balance of trade. We have seen some communities be dependent upon cash markets for food and oil.
The cash markets make citizens dependent upon theprices of oil, food and international currency. There aresome cases where this has increased consumer choice,but there are others where it has reduced the food diversity and necessitated citizens to seek higher wages in a
global market.
There is a high expenditure of fossil fuels to create
biofuels, from transportation of feedstocks (i.e., corn)
and the fossil fuels that are used in the energy intensive process of creating nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides,
and powered irrigation [101] . A full long-term ethicalana lysis would require the impacts over generations ofcrops, generations of farming communities, ecosystemsurvival, and impact on any moral agent to be considered. In modern economics and agricultural policy
many economic and other causes of harm are externalized, to remove them from the decision-making
process [4] . In ethical ana lysis however, they cannot be.
Distributive justice requires that the benefits and burdens of biomass production and biofuel manufacture
be distributed fairly across all stakeholders. As withother technologies, biofuel production may change
access to environmental and ecosystem services, andthe disruption of clean water, recreational areas andnatural scenery.
There are different philosophical approaches to
examining the ethics of biofuels. One approach is to
examine underlying epistemological commitments inthe scientific models being developed, to determine
the feasibility of various biofuels proposals. A second
examines the philosophical goals of agriculture [5] , andif we take a broader perspective of the role of agriculture in rural society (and in some cases urban society),

future science groupEthics & biofuels

we will go back to the initial idea expressed at the startof this essay – growing crops from the energy of the sun
seems basic to the system of life that has developed on
this planet. Perhaps we could call this a return to firstprinciples of ethics, that based on the relationships oflove of life between all organisms [102] .
There is also an inherent logic in biofuel productionthat uses waste from existing agricultural industry.
The efficient use of waste products to make products
for energy supply is also ethically consistent, and noone would stop farmer or entrepreneur from using thewaste of others to make a product (if it did not polluteothers). This is different to the conversion of land tobiofuel production, as seen for example with the planting of oil palms in Malaysia, which also raised a number of legal questions of ownership of land and naturefrom indigenous groups and traditional land users [6] .
In conclusion, we can see from above that ethical principles can help us analyze ethical dilemmas
discussed in biofuels debates. Many of these make
Bibliography
1

Phalan B. Traffic lights for crop-based
biofuels. Biofuels 2(1), 1–3 (2011).

2James C. Global status of commercializedbiotech/GM crops: 2010. ISAAA Brief 42.
ISAAA, Ithaca, NY, USA (2011).

3McGraw L. The Ethics of Adoption andDevelopment of Algae-based Biofuels.
United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization, Bangkok, Thailand(2010).

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Editorialcommon sense across many cultures, but we do needa holistic ana lysis of the multifaceted issues across awide range of disciplines. As policies are implemented
involving biofuels, we need to continue research tounderstand the ethical, environmental, economic,
and social impacts of biofuels over many life cycles.
Comparative ethical ana lysis of different energy technologies is important for many different communities
around the world, and I would urge any energy developer to include this aspect as technology is introduced.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement withany organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial
conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stockownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received orpending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of thismanuscript.

Kanaly RA, Manzanero LIO, Panneerselvam S,
Macer DRJ. Energy Flow, Environment andEthical Implications for Meat Production. United
Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization, Bangkok, Thailand (2010).
Thompson PB. The agricultural ethics ofbiofuels: a first look. J. Agric. Environ. Ethics
21, 183–198 (1998).
Boonlong R, Farbotko C, Parfondry C,
Graham C, Macer DRJ. Representation andDecision-Making in Environment Planningwith Emphasis on Energy Technologies. United
Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization, Bangkok, Thailand (2011).

 Websites
101 Penn State Climate Ethics. Initial ethicalevaluations of alternative energy strategies:
the example of biofuels.
http://climateethics.org/?p=18
102 Eubios Ethics Institute. Bioethics is loveof life.
www.eubios.info/BLL.htm

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