Commodifying nature's last straw? Perils of the sugar economy.

Peak oil, high fuels costs and the climate crisis are driving corporate enthusiasm for a 'biological engineering revolution: Advocates promise a greener future but production depends on the 'sugar economy' where manufacturing platforms fuelled by plant sugars and engineered microbes will catalyse a corporate grab on all plant matter with huge destruction of biodiversity. If the vision of a sugar economy advances, "next generation" agrofuels threaten to repeat the mistakes of first-generation agrofuels on a more massive scale. This article is abridged from the report published by the ETC GROUP in October 2008.

The future bio-economy will rely on 'extreme genetic engineering', a suite of technologies in the early development stages: cheap and fast gene sequencing; made-to-order biological parts; genome engineering and design; nano-scale materials fabrication and operating systems. The common denominator in these technologies: biotech, nanotech, synthetic biology, involve engineering living organisms at the nano-scale. Ifs too soon to tell if the sugar-coated visions of the carbohydrate economy are mostly technological hype and hubris but the new bioengineering technologies are attracting billions of dollars in corporate funding from energy, chemical and agribusiness giants, including DuPont, BP, Shell, Chevron, Cargill and others. Since the 1970s, 70% of all US government funding has gone to biofuels. (1) Bio-Economic Research Associates (Cambridge MA, USA) predict bio-based chemical processes could capture over $70 billion in revenue by 2010, with the biofuels sector reaching X40 billion by 2010 and $110-150 billion by 2020. (2)

Advocates assure us the 'food vs. fuel' debate will be irrelevant in the future sugar economy, because feedstocks will come from cheap, plentiful 'cellulosic biomass', plant matter composed of cellulose fibres, including crop residues such as rice straw, corn stalks, wheat straw; wood chips; and dedicated 'energy crops' such as switchgrass, fast-growing trees, algae, even municipal waste. The giant stumbling block is it currently requires a lot of energy to break down some biological feedstocks into sugar, and traditional chemistry has failed to provide an economical process. Proponents insist 'next generation' feedstocks will use old and new biotechnologies, and break-through fermentation technologies to succeed where chemistry failed.

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Syn Bio enthusiasts envision a post-petroleum era where industrial production is fuelled by sugars extracted from biological feedstocks (biomass). The biotech industry's bioeconomy vision includes a network of biorefineries, where extracted plant sugars are fermented in vats filled with genetically engineered, and one day, fully synthetic, microbes. The microbes function as 'living chemical factories', converting sugars into high-value molecules--the building blocks for fuels, energy, plastic, chemicals and more. Theoretically, any product made from petrochemicals could also be made from sugar using this biological manufacturing approach.

Learning from past experiences

Recent experience with industrial agrofuels offers a modern day parable on the dangers of techno-fixes, promoted as green, sustainable solutions to peak oil and climate change. By mid-2008, even some OECD countries were admitting industrial agrofuels have been a tragic boondoggle which can't remotely be described as a socially or ecologically sustainable response to climate change. (3) Not only are industrial agrofuels driving the world's poorest farmers off their land and into deeper poverty, (4) they are the single greatest factor contributing to soaring food prices (5) and have pushed over 30 million additional people (so far) from subsistence to hunger. (6) Recent scientific papers conclude industrial agrofuels are not arresting climate change but accelerating it. (7)

Synthetic biology to the rescue?

But techno-optimists aren't worried, as there are plenty more techno-fixes on the launching pad. Venture capitalists, corporate titans and the U.S. Department of Energy are betting on advances in synthetic biology overcoming the technological bottlenecks that threaten to delay the sugar economy. Synthetic biology, they tell us, will enable next generation cellulosic feedstocks to be far more efficient and sustainable, and they won't compete with land and resources used to grow conventional food crops.

Today, synthetic biologists are pursuing a variety of methods to efficiently extract sugars from biomass feedstocks. For example, they are trying to use synthetic microbes to break down cellulosic biomass, and they are also converting microbial cells into 'living chemical factories' to manufacture new bio-based products. Jump-started by U.S. government subsidies, (8) venture capitalists and corporations are supporting R&D (in-house) as well as alliances with synthetic biology start-ups. Amyris Biotechnologies, a California based synthetic biology start-up, aims to engineer new metabolic pathways in microbes to produce novel or rare compounds. The company's primary goal is to modify the genetic pathways of yeast so it efficiently ferments sugars to produce longer chain molecules for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

In 2007, Amyris raised $70 million in venture capital to develop synthetic fuel technology (9) In April 2008 Amyris announced a joint venture with Brazil's Crystalsev to commercialize 'advanced renewable fuels' made from sugar cane in 2010--including diesel, jet fuel and gasoline. (10) In the longer term, Amyris wants to create new production pathways in engineered microbes to churn out pharmaceuticals, flavours, fragrances and nutraceuticals.

In September 2008 California-based synthetic biology company, Solazyme, Inc., announced it had successfully produced the world's first microbial-derived jet fuel by engineering algae to produce oil in fermentation tanks." The company describes it as the first step towards achieving fuel alternatives on a large scale, claiming its production process can employ a variety of non-food feedstocks, including cellulosic materials like agricultural residues and high-productivity grasses (bagasse and switchgrass).

DuPont already manufactures a sugar-based biomaterial via engineered microbes. (12) Using a proprietary process developed through partnerships with Genentech and Tate & Lyle, the company engineers the cellular machinery of an E. coli bacterium so that it can ferment corn sugar to produce the main ingredient in the company's Sorona fibre, 1,3-propanediol (trademarked name Bio-PDO). (13) Duponts goal is to one day produce Bio-PDO from cellulosic plant material instead of milled corn. DuPont predicts Sorona, which can be turned into anything from underwear to carpeting, will eventually replace nylon. Although Sorona fibre is neither compostable nor biodegradable, DuPont boasts its environmentally friendly because its production requires 40% less energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 20% compared to petroleum-based propanediol. But it takes six million bushels of corn to produce 100 million pounds of Bio- PD O, the estimated annual output of DuPonfs Tennessee-based biorefinery, (14) just one example of one biorefinery producing only one bio-based material for a single year.

Synthetic biology's state-of-the-art, sugar-dependent biorefineries will create massive demand for agricultural feedstocks. According to biotech industry estimates, a minimum 500,000 acres of cropland (crop residues or wastes' from that area) would be required to sustain a moderately-sized, commercial-scale biorefinery. (15) Synthetic biology's grand vision of a post-petroleum era depends on biomass, whether derived from 'energy crops; trees (including GE trees), agricultural 'wastes; crop residues or algae. If the vision of a sugar economy advances, will all plant matter become potential feedstock?

Who decides what qualifies as agricultural waste or residue? Whose land will grow the feedstocks? An article in the February 2008 issue of Nature, suggests synthetic biology approaches: "might be tailored to marginal lands where the soil wouldn't support food crops." (16) Consequences, especially for marginalised farming communities and poor people in the South are profound. At a May 2008 meeting of synthetic biologists, Nobel laureate Dr Steven Chu, pointed out there is "quite obit" of arable land suitable for rain-fed energy crops and the Latin American and Sub-Saharan Africa are areas best suited for biomass generation. Failing to learn from the first-generation agrofuel train wreck, The Economist naively suggests: "there's plenty of biomass to go around" and "the world's hitherto impoverished tropics may find themselves in the middle of an unexpected and welcome industrial revolution." (17)

Advocates of synthetic biology and the bio-based sugar economy assume unlimited supplies of cellulosic biomass will be available. But can massive quantities of biomass be harvested sustainably without eroding/ degrading soils, destroying biodiversity increasing food insecurity and displacing marginalized peoples? Can synthetic microbes work predictably, be safely contained and controlled? No one knows the answers to these questions, but that's not curbing corporate enthusiasm. In the current social and economic context, the global grab for next generation cellulosic feedstocks threatens to repeat the mistakes of first-generation agrofuels on a more massive scale.

The pattern is familiar. Once again, land, labour and biological resources in the global South are in danger of being exploited to satisfy the North's voracious consumption and reckless waste. In the name of moving beyond petroleum' we're seeing a new convergence of corporate power, poised to appropriate and further commodify biological resources in every part of the globe, while keeping the root causes of climate change intact. (18)

REFERENCES

(1.) Emily Waltz, "Do biomaterials really mean business?" Nature Biotechnology, Vol. 26, Number 8, August 2008.

(2.) Bio-era, "Genome Synthesis and Design Futures: Implications for the U.S. Economy," A Special Bio-era Report Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Feb 2007.

(3.) The title of one OECD working paper on biofuels said it all: "Is the cure worse than the disease?"

(4.) http://esa.un.org/un-energy/pdf/susdev.Biofuels.FAO.pdf

(5.) According to leaked World Bank document (April 2008). http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Environment/documents/ 2008/07/10/Biofuels.PDF

(6.) A June 2008 report from Oxfam claims biofuel policies in OECD countries have already plunged over 30 million additional people into poverty. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/climate_change/ bp114_inconvenient_truth.html

(7.) When total carbon costs of biofuel production are taken into account, all the major agrofuels increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. (Corn-based ethanol nearly doubles GHG emissions over 30 years and increases GHG for 167 years). Timothy Searchinger, et al. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Science 319, 1238 (2008).

(8.) By 2022, U.S. energy policy dictates 44% of U.S. production of biofuels must come from cellulosic feedstocks.

(9.) Amyris News Release, "Amyris Biotechnologies Announces $70 Million Series B Round," 19 September 2007. http://www.amyrisbiotech.com

(10.) Amyris News Release, "Amyris and Crystalsev Join to Launch Innovative Renewable Diesel from Sugar cane by 2010," 23 April 2008. http://www.amyrisbiotech.com

(11.) Solazyme, Inc., News Release, "Solazyme Produces World's First Algal-Based Jet Fuel--Fuel Passes All Tested Specifications including the Most Critical ASTM D1655 Specifications, September 12.2008." http://www.solazyme.com

(13.) According to DuPont, Sorona contains "37% renewably sourced material (by weight) derived from corn." Sorona is neither compostable nor biodegradable. http://www2.dupont.com/Renewably_Sourced_Materials/en_US/sorona.html

(14.) Dave Nilles, "Tate & Lyle and Du-Pont ship propanediol from Tennessee plant," Ethanol Producer Magazine, November 2006. http://www.ethanolproducer.com/article.jsp?article_id=2488

(15.) Peg Zenk, "Biotech's Third Wave," Farm Industry News, 1 February 2007.

(16.) Biotechnology Industry Organization, "Achieving Sustainable Production of Agricultural Biomass for Biorefinery Feedstock." http://www.bio.org

(17.) "Not your father's biofuels," Nature, Vol. 451, 21 February 2008.

(18.) Anonymous, "Grow Your Own," Economist, 19 June 2009.

(19.) U.S. Department of Energy, "Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization: Report on the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solar Energy Utilization," 2005. http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/ reports/files/SEU_rpt.pdf

(20.) Helmut Haberl et al., "Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol.104, no. 31, 31 July 2007 http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0704243104

(21.) U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: the Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005. www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/final_billionton_vision_report2.pd

WHAT IS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY?

Inspired by the convergence of molecular biology, computing and engineering, synthetic biology refers to the creation of designer organisms built from synthetic DNA. Scientists have already used synthetic DNA to construct working viruses and re-engineer existing microbes; they are also trying to build human-made life forms to perform specific tasks.

BREAKING THE BIOMASS BANK; LIMITS TO (PLANT) GROWTH

Almost all of the arable land on Earth would need to be covered with the fastest-growing known energy crops, such as switchgrass, to produce the amount of energy currently consumed from fossil fuels annually.

--U.S. Department of Energy, 2005 (19)

The earth's plant biomass is rapidly dwindling. Forests and grasslands, in particular, are disappearing at an alarming rate. Researchers estimate humans already consume almost a quarter of global biomass (24%), with over half (53%) harvested for food, fuel, heating and lumber. 40% is lost through land-use changes and 795 is burned in human induced fires. (20)

The United States currently consumes 190 million dry tonnes of biomass annually for energy, and the government wants to increase this to one billion tonnes. Researchers conclude the goal is technically feasible, but only by increasing yields of energy crops by 50% and removing large quantities (~75%) of agricultural residues from cropland. Impacts of increased residue removal will include impoverished soils (requiring more industrial fertilizers) and dangerous increases in soil erosion. (21)

The above article is abridged by Kay Weir from the report, Commodifying Nature's Last Straw? Extreme Genetic Engineering & The Post Petroleum Sugar Economy, published by the ETC Group in October 2008. Artwork by Stig. The ETC Groups is an international civil society organization based in Canada, dedicated to conservation and sustainable advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights. ITC group supports socially responsible developments of technologies useful to the poor and marginalized and addressing international governance issues affecting the international community, and monitors the ownership and control of technologies and consolidation of corporate power. See www.etcgroup.org

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY PLAYERS AND CORPORATE PARTNERS

Company                Corporate partners/investors

Amyris                 Partnership with CrystalSev (one of Brazil's
Biotechnology          largest sugar and ethanol manufacturer);
Emeryville, CA, USA    Sanofi-Aventis; Khosla Ventures; Kleiner
                       Perkins Caufield & Byers; TPG Ventures
                       (TPGV); Amyris CEO is John Melo, previously
                       president of U.S. Fuels Operations for BP

Athenix                Syngenta; Monsanto; Iowa Corn Promotion Board
Research Triangle
Park, NC USA

Codexis                Shell; Merck; Schering-Plough; Bristol-Myers
Redwood City, CA,      Squibb; Pfizer; Chevron; Maxygen; Pequot
USA                    Ventures; GM EA Ventures; Bio*One Capital

Coskata                General Motors; I CM
Warrenville, IL, USA

Genencor (Danisco      Goodyear Tire & Rubber; DuPont; Procter &
subsidiary)            Gamble; Cargill; Dow; Eastman Chemical
Rochester, NY, USA

Genomatica             Iceland Genomic Ventures; Mohr Davidow
San Diego, CA, USA     Ventures (MDV); Alloy Ventures; Draper Fisher
                       Jurvetson

Gevo                   Virgin Group; Khosla Ventures; Burrill &
Englewood, CO,         Company; Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund
USA

LS9                    Diversa; Khosla Ventures; Flagship Ventures,
S. San Francisco,      Lightspeed Ventures Partners
CA, USA

Mascoma                General Motors and Marathon Oil are equity
Boston, MA, USA        investors; Khosla Ventures; Kleiner Perkins
                       Caufield & Byers, Pinnacle Ventures; Vantage
                       Point Venture Partners, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Metabolix              Archer Daniels Midland; U.S. Department of
Cambridge, MA,         Energy
USA

Novozymes              Center for Sustainable and Green Chemistry
(Novo Nordisk          and Dept. of Chemical Engineering at The
Foundation)            Technical University of Denmark (DTU); Danish
Bagsvaerd,             National Advanced Technology Foundation;
Denmark                Department of Energy's National Renewable
                       Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Solazyme               Chevron; Imperium Renewables, Inc; Blue Crest
S. San Francisco,      Capital Finance, L.P.
CA, USA

Synthetic              BP; Asiatic Centre for Genome Technology
Genomics               (ACCT, Malaysia) subsidiary of the Genting
La Jolla, CA, USA      Group; Biotech-onomy LLC; Draper Fisher
                       Jurvetson; Desarrollo Consolidado de
                       Negocios; Meteor Group LLC

Verenium               Marubeni Corp.; Tsukishima Kikai Co.; BASF;
Cambridge, MA,         Dupont; Danisco; Cargill; Bunge; Syngenta
USA

Company                Company focus

Amyris                 Using synthetic biology to commercialize
Biotechnology          biofuels, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals,
Emeryville, CA, USA    and nutraceuticals.

Athenix                Developing genes and enzymes to enable
Research Triangle      processes to release sugars from biological
Park, NC USA           feedstocks.

Codexis                Developing biocatalytic chemical processes to
Redwood City, CA,      reduce manufacturing costs of
USA                    pharmaceuticals, transportation fuels, and
                       industrial chemicals.

Coskata                Biology-based renewable energy company.
Warrenville, IL, USA   Using proprietary microorganisms and
                       bioreactor designs, aims to produce ethanol
                       for under US$1.00 per gallon.

Genencor (Danisco      Engineering protein (enzyme) products for
subsidiary)            industrial applications (e.g. grain
Rochester, NY, USA     processing, cleaning, textiles, biofuels).

Genomatica             Engineering microorganisms to make an
San Diego, CA, USA     industrial chemical used in plastic, rubber
                       and fibre products.

Gevo                   Developing large-scale production of advanced
Englewood, CO,         biofuels, including butanol (higher-energy
USA                    biofuel than ethanol).

LS9                    Using synthetic biology to develop petroleum
S. San Francisco,      and other oil-based industrial products.
CA, USA

Mascoma                Employing engineered microbes to break down
Boston, MA, USA        biomass and digest sugars.

Metabolix              Developing proprietary platform technology
Cambridge, MA,         for co-producing plastics, chemicals and
USA                    energy from switchgrass, oilseeds and sugar
                       cane.

Novozymes              Engineering enzyme genes using a technique
(Novo Nordisk          called artificial evolution for industrial
Foundation)            applications.
Bagsvaerd,
Denmark

Solazyme               Engineering marine microbes to create
S. San Francisco,      renewable energy, industrial chemicals.
CA, USA

Synthetic              Using synthetic genomic processes and
Genomics               naturally occurring processes for alternative
La Jolla, CA, USA      energy.

Verenium               Created by 2007 merger of Diversa & Celunol.
Cambridge, MA,         Developing cellulosic ethanol.
USA