60 Second Interview – Meghan Sapp, Secretary General, Pangea and Principle, HG Consulting

60 Second Interview with Meghan Sapp, Secretary General, Pangeaand Principle, HG Consulting

PANGEA Partners for Euro-African Green Energy, or PANGEA, links together North and South in a new way. PANGEA works to encourage biofuel production in Africa as a way to promote sustainable economic development using what Africa does best—agriculture. By adding the technology of Brazil, India and others to the mix, agriculture becomes something that Europe needs—sustainably produced biofuels. See www.pangealink.org

1) You have been involved in biofuels projects in Africa for many years. What do you think about some of the comments about the impact of biofuels on food and the potential to lead to starvation?

The food vs. fuel issue is extremely sensitive and something that all biofuels industries should be monitoring, not just those in Africa. I and my colleagues have long believed that food security was less of a function of supply than a function of market access. Does Africa produce enough food to feed its people? Probably. But does that keep the continent from staving? No, because the food distribution systems don’t work. That issue is completely outside of the question on biofuels, however. Last summer when food prices were soaring, biofuels took the brunt of the criticism. But at the beginning of 2009, commodity prices for both foodstuffs and oil had fallen by half yet biofuel production hadn’t yet fallen. To us, that shows the disconnect in the theory that food prices are affected by biofuel production. The situation is now changed slightly, with the global economic slowdown cutting demand for maize-based ethanol in the US, but that might not be a bad thing as it pushes industry to look for non-food based alternatives that produce biofuels at lower costs.

2) Further criticism also seems to declare that the new interest in biofuels in Africa is a form of new colonialism?

The opportunity for a new form of colonialism exists whenever there’s a new opportunity for profit. Africa still has a reputation of being a sort of no-man’s land despite the presence of a billion people and more than 50 sovereign governments. In terms of biofuels, we believe the best and most effective way to stave off a new round of colonialism is through the introduction of comprehensive biofuels policies among all African nations. Biofuels offer enormous opportunities for countries to diversify their economies and their energy sources, in many cases vastly increasing energy access to rural and urban populations alike. But to do so takes significant investment in both production and infrastructure. To reduce investment risk, improved investment policies need to be introduced. That’s on top of the environmental, land use planning and improved corporate policies that need to be introduced. It’s all related, so “biofuels polices” can in many ways help to tighten up policies in many areas that will boost investment across several sectors.

3) What help do the African Governments need to develop their energy independence?

Major infrastructure improvement is one of the main keys to renewable energy uptake in African countries. Everything from building biofuel blending facilities to transport networks domestically and regionally to installing petrol forecourts that offer biofuel blends. Then there’s how to tackle the green electricity that is produced from co-generation during the biofuel production process. National electricity grids need to be modernised and expanded, while in many cases it could be appropriate to connect regional markets like is underway in the East African Communities. These infrastructure projects are expensive and require vast amounts of expertise from across the region and the world. Development banks like the African Development Bank, European Investment Bank and World Bank should be better utilised in funding these national and multi-national infrastructure projects now so that countries can begin using renewable energy as soon as production comes online.

4) What key lesson(s) have you learnt about setting up biofuels projects in Africa?

Because the concept of biofuels is still a fairly new one in most parts of Africa, everyone is learning at the same time and that learning curve is steep. While countries are creating policies, investors are developing projects and often there is a lot of waiting while one finishes one step until the other can move forward. So the major lessons would be patience and communication. Governments should be working with investors and vice versa in order to make the introduction of biofuels into new markets a smooth one that benefits the environment as well as local economies. There’s no huge rush here, so let’s do it right the first time.

Meet Meghan Sapp and 200 other biofuels experts from around the globe at the World Biofuels Markets 2009
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