Bruce Dale Invited to Join International Policy Group’s Steering Committee

April 6, 2009

Bruce Dale, University Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering and materials science and associate director of the MSU Office of Biobased Technologies, is internationally known for his biofuel research. Now the world is looking to him to learn how biofuels will affect agricultural production, climate change and trade policies.

The Geneva-based International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) has invited Dale to join the group's steering committee as it creates a series of white papers on climate change, agriculture and trade. Accredited by the United Nations and World Trade Organization, the ICTSD consults for and participates in many conferences and other activities sponsored by those organizations.

"I'm the only technical person on the steering committee," said Dale. "It's a very diverse, very international group. The ICTSD invited me to be a member because of my expertise in second-generation biofuels, biofuel life cycle analysis and the carbon consequences of new agricultural practices to produce biofuel raw materials."

Other steering committee members include Adrian Macey, ambassador of climate change negotiations for New Zealand; and Raul Montemayor, vice president of the Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives/International Federation of Agricultural Producers, from the Philippines.
According to Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, chief executive of the ICTSD, the steering committee will examine and recommend agriculture and trade policy options intended to promote climate change mitigation and adaption, while strengthening food security and contributing to economic development. In 2009, the group will focus on the implications of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations on agriculture and trade.

"I'm looking forward to participating," Dale said. "It gives me a chance to share MSU research with the world and show how MSU's biofuel research has global implications."

For more information on Michigan State University's biofuel and bioenergy research, visit www.bioeconomy.msu.edu.