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Biofuels: The Revolution in Biotechnology?

Photo Courtesy of Garten Rothkopf

David Rothkopf Date: Friday, 29 June 2007 Time: 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) View Webchat Transcript

Biofuel, defined broadly, is solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from, recently living organisms (such as corn) or their metabolic byproducts (such as cow dung). Biofuels represent a rapidly growing energy option in the midst of climate change, the rise of emerging economies, the world’s rapid urbanization and the revolution in biotechnology. They have a significant role to play in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and are attracting both government and private sector investment.

Join David Rothkopf, chairman and CEO of the Rothkopf Group and an expert in biofuels, for a conversation about these renewable energy sources. He will cover the growth of the biofuels industry in the Americas, the biofuels agreement between Brazil and the United States, attempts to standardize bilateral research, and the utilization of sugarcane and corn in an attempt to help Central America and the Caribbean become energy independent.

Guest Biography: David Rothkopf is the president and CEO of Garten Rothkopf, an international advisory firm specializing in emerging-markets investing and risk-management-related services. A major focus of Garten Rothkopf's investment work is on new trends in Asia and Latin America, and the growth of alternative energy. The firm's study, "A Blueprint for Green Energy in the Americas," produced for the Inter-American Development Bank, is considered the definitive study of global trends in biofuels worldwide." Rothkopf served as a senior trade official in the Clinton administration, as managing director of Kissinger Associates, and is the author of many articles and books. His most recent publications include a history of U.S. foreign policy entitled "Running the World"; his book, "Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making," is slated for release soon. Rothkopf is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment and teaches international affairs at Columbia University.