Brian Dean, of the International Biofuels Commission, was invited to present at the FIU Energy Business Forum titled “A Low Carbon, Alternative Fuels Future: Perspectives from Europe and the Americas.”  Concerns about global warming have prompted the international community to focus on ways to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and to seek ways to increase the use of clean-burning alternative fuels.  The purpose of the spring conference was to explore how national and regional efforts to address carbon emissions and introduce how alternative fuels can be harmonized at a global level.  It also observed the policies of the new U.S. administration and how U.S. and Latin America energy policy can be best harmonized with Europe and the international community into a coordinated global effort toward sustainable economic growth.  

The topic of President Dean’s presentation was alternative fuels and the pathway to prosperity in the Americas: Miami at the crossroads of Europe and Latin America.    His presentation focused on the biofuel targets currently in place in both Florida and federal law.  Reaching these goals will require diversified sourcing of ethanol and biodiesel from different feedstock, technologies and regions.  Dean expanded on this theme by stating, “the need to establish a hemispheric and ultimately a global marketplace for biofuels is the best hope of both reducing dependence on fossil fuels and promoting economic growth for Florida and the Americas.”  Angelos Pangratis, Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Washington, DC, gave the keynote address for the day-long conference and spoke on advancing international cooperation for carbon emission reductions and prospects for the forthcoming United Nations’ Copenhagen summit which seeks to build on the Kyoto Protocol by creating a global mechanism for reducing carbon emissions.  The conference, hosted by the university, was located at the MARC International Pavillion and had about 100 attendees.