Last week, National Geographic and Shell Energy hosted a roundtable discussion, The Great Energy Challenge: BioFuels at a Crossroad, led by Senior ECPA Fellow Dan Kammen. Partners staff member Elizabeth Lopez also had the opportunity to attend and spoke on biofuels as it relates to Latin America specifically.

The round table was attended by two dozen experts to discuss clean energy solutions and the role that biofuels may play in the future. The discussion opened with the question “What will it take for a thriving, sustainable biofuel industry by 2030, from scientific and technological innovations to market and policy barriers?”

Recurring themes included the need for a diversity of clean energy sources rather than a total reliance on biofuels. They also debated the economic factors, market obstacles and the standards in which biofuels are being held to in comparison to other current energy forms.

Elizabeth contributed a well-liked point that Latin American countries could use a leader nation that models the energy source in a successful manner, much the way the Senior ECPA Fellows are sharing their successful clean energy and sustainability projects and policies throughout Latin America right now.

The discussion ended with a reminder that this is only the beginning of the conversation, and the task calls for public-private partnerships (PPPs), market shifts and technological innovations across the board.

We look forward to watching this conversation unfold, as well as involving Senior ECPA Fellows in its future.

This post was writtend by Blair Curcie and was originally posted in Partners of the Americas Blog.