IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wti/papers/317.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Lock-in Situations in the Global Debates on Climate Change, Biotechnology and International Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Aerni, Philipp

Abstract

The problem of man-made global climate change is strongly related to land-use practices and the global dependence on fossil fuels. Biotechnology is a platform technology that may help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, improve adaptation to climate change, offer new sources of renewable energy and transform the current petrochemical industry into a less energy intensive biological industry. Yet, this potential is hardly ever discussed in the public debate on climate change because it is currently not associated with the term ‘cleantech’ that is used to describe climate-friendly technology. In our study we investigate the perceptions and interests of the main stakeholders involved in the global debate on biotechnology andclimate change in order to better understand why ‘cleantech’ is currently not linked to ‘biotech’. For that purpose, we designed a global stakeholder survey which was completed online by 59 respondents representing 40 core institutions in the global sustainability debate. The response rate was above 90%. The survey results reveal that most stakeholders even in the climate change debate regard the potential of biotechnology to be significant. Yet, the results also show that one of the stakeholders that is assessed to be key in the biotechnology as well as the climate change debate and of central importance in the formation of global public opinion is also firmly opposed to the use of modern biotechnology to address climate change problems. The survey findings also indicate that the perception of biotechnology depends to a large extent on the educational background and the institutional affiliation of the respective respondent. Despite the generally favourable view of modern biotechnology as a tool to address climate change problems it is unlikely that it will be considered as being part of ‘cleantech’ any time soon unless influential opponents would change their attitudes. Thisis however not going to happen since the political and psychological costs to change its mind would be too high. It amounts to a typical lock-in situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Aerni, Philipp, 2011. "Lock-in Situations in the Global Debates on Climate Change, Biotechnology and International Trade," Papers 317, World Trade Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:wti:papers:317
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.wti.org/media/filer_public/8e/d0/8ed08279-a08b-4332-87a3-7f6078daf531/lock-in_situations_in_the_global_debates_on_climate_change_biotechnology_and_international_trade.pdf
    File Function: First version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Juma, Calestous, 2011. "The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199783199.
    2. Murphy, Richard & Woods, Jeremy & Black, Mairi & McManus, Marcelle, 2011. "Global developments in the competition for land from biofuels," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 52-61, January.
    3. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    4. Harvey, Mark & Pilgrim, Sarah, 2011. "The new competition for land: Food, energy, and climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(S1), pages 40-51.
    5. Murphy, Richard & Woods, Jeremy & Black, Mairi & McManus, Marcelle, 2011. "Global developments in the competition for land from biofuels," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(S1), pages 52-61.
    6. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2002. "Identity and Schooling: Some Lessons for the Economics of Education," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1167-1201, December.
    7. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Report 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4387.
    8. Harvey, Mark & Pilgrim, Sarah, 2011. "The new competition for land: Food, energy, and climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 40-51, January.
    9. David, Paul A, 1985. "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 332-337, May.
    10. Garnett, Tara, 2011. "Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(S1), pages 23-32.
    11. Philipp Aerni, 2002. "Stakeholder Attitudes Toward the Risks and Benefits of Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries: A Comparison Between Mexico and the Philippines," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 1123-1137, December.
    12. Pant, Deepak & Singh, Anoop & Van Bogaert, Gilbert & Gallego, Yolanda Alvarez & Diels, Ludo & Vanbroekhoven, Karolien, 2011. "An introduction to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for sustainable energy and product generation: Relevance and key aspects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1305-1313, February.
    13. Garnett, Tara, 2011. "Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 23-32, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabio De Menna & Remo Alessio Malagnino & Matteo Vittuari & Giovanni Molari & Giovanna Seddaiu & Paola A. Deligios & Stefania Solinas & Luigi Ledda, 2016. "Potential Biogas Production from Artichoke Byproducts in Sardinia, Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-11, February.
    2. Andrew Adewale Alola & Uju Violet Alola, 2018. "Agricultural land usage and tourism impact on renewable energy consumption among Coastline Mediterranean Countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(8), pages 1438-1454, December.
    3. Moon, Wanki, 2011. "Is agriculture compatible with free trade?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 13-24.
    4. De Menna, Fabio & Malagnino, Remo Alessio & Vittuari, Matteo & Segrè, Andrea & Molari, Giovanni & Deligios, Paola A. & Solinas, Stefania & Ledda, Luigi, 2018. "Optimization of agricultural biogas supply chains using artichoke byproducts in existing plants," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 137-146.
    5. Eugenio Demartini & Anna Gaviglio & Marco Gelati & Daniele Cavicchioli, 2016. "The Effect of Biogas Production on Farmland Rental Prices: Empirical Evidences from Northern Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-23, November.
    6. Defante, Lilliane Renata & Vilpoux, Olivier François & Sauer, Leandro, 2018. "Rapid expansion of sugarcane crop for biofuels and influence on food production in the first producing region of Brazil," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 121-131.
    7. Lombardini, Chiara & Lankoski, Leena, 2011. "An Economic-Psychological Model of Sustainable Food Consumption," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114403, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Philipp Aerni & Florabelle Gagalac & Joachim Scholderer, 2016. "The role of biotechnology in combating climate change: A question of politics?," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(1), pages 13-28.
    9. Iriarte, Alfredo & Rieradevall, Joan & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2012. "Transition towards a more environmentally sustainable biodiesel in South America: The case of Chile," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 263-273.
    10. Dorward, Leejiah J., 2012. "Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)? A comment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 463-466.
    11. Yue, Shen & Munir, Irfan Ullah & Hyder, Shabir & Nassani, Abdelmohsen A. & Qazi Abro, Muhammad Moinuddin & Zaman, Khalid, 2020. "Sustainable food production, forest biodiversity and mineral pricing: Interconnected global issues," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Aksoy, Billur & Chadd, Ian & Koh, Boon Han, 2023. "Sexual identity, gender, and anticipated discrimination in prosocial behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Maria K. Humlum & Kristin J. Kleinjans & Helena S. Nielsen, 2012. "An Economic Analysis Of Identity And Career Choice," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(1), pages 39-61, January.
    14. Maiyar, Lohithaksha M & Thakkar, Jitesh J, 2019. "Environmentally conscious logistics planning for food grain industry considering wastages employing multi objective hybrid particle swarm optimization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 220-248.
    15. Danilo Bertoni & Daniele Cavicchioli & Franco Donzelli & Giovanni Ferrazzi & Dario G. Frisio & Roberto Pretolani & Elena Claire Ricci & Vera Ventura, 2018. "Recent Contributions of Agricultural Economics Research in the Field of Sustainable Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    16. Roland G. Fryer, Jr. & Paul Torelli, 2005. "An Empirical Analysis of 'Acting White'," NBER Working Papers 11334, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Zenou, Yves & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2006. "Racial Identity and Education," CEPR Discussion Papers 5607, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Adnan, Wifag & Arin, K. Peren & Charness, Gary & Lacomba, Juan A. & Lagos, Francisco, 2022. "Which social categories matter to people: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 125-145.
    19. Hanming Fang & Glenn C. Loury, 2004. "Toward an Economic Theory of Dysfunctional Identity," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-146, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    20. Taha Movahedi, 2020. "Group Uncertainty and Social Preferences," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2020-07, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wti:papers:317. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Morven McLean (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wtibech.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.