What drives public acceptance of second-generation biofuels? Evidence from Canada

Abstract North American publics are currently much more supportive of second-generation biofuels than of conventional biofuels like corn-based ethanol. But what is the likely future trajectory of consumer acceptance of advanced biofuels? This study considers whether increased awareness of the potential unintended consequences of increasing the production of advanced biofuels could lead to a decline in public support for the technology. Using an experiment embedded in an original survey of Canadian adults, we test for the effect of two anti-biofuels arguments on Canadians' support for policies meant to encourage the production of biofuels. We find that support for biofuels policies was reduced in our experiment when respondents were exposed to an argument about the potential impact of biofuels production on food prices and when they were told that the use of woody biomass as a feedstock for the production of cellulosic biofuels might lead to an increase in commercial logging. In both cases, however, support was reduced only among respondents who did not perceive climate change to pose a significant risk. Overall, our results suggest that public support for advanced biofuels is potentially vulnerable to arguments that focus on the unintended consequences of producing biofuels from non-food feedstocks.