Objective: The Energy Future Coalition, in partnership with agricultural and forestry leaders, is sponsoring the 25x’25 Initiative to set a national goal for America to produce 25% of its energy from renewable resources by 2025. Two separate economic analyses, one by the RAND Corporation and one by the University of Tennessee, will address the macroeconomic impacts of pursuing this goal, and its impacts on U.S. agriculture, respectively.

Commitment: The RAND analysis will specifically assess the cost of energy, impact on the economy, and impact on the environment under a variety of future energy price scenarios. The Tennessee study will look at the impact on crop prices and employment of large-scale production of energy from biomass.

Background: The 25x’25 Initiative was first envisioned by agricultural and forestry leaders but now includes partners from business, labor, conservation, and religious groups. It is a project of the Energy Future Coalition, a broad-based and bipartisan public policy initiative aimed at address three key energy challenges:

1. The political and economic security threat posed by the world’s dependence on oil.
2. The risk to the global environment from climate change.
3. The lack of access of the world’s poor to the modern energy services they need for economic advancement.

Recent spikes in energy costs, brought on by political instability and natural disasters, have emphasized the world’s vulnerability to changes in the price of oil. Renewable resources provide alternatives to petroleum and other fossil fuels that are abundant and geographically diverse. The increased use of renewable energy can enhance national security, add income to the rural economy, create new manufacturing and service jobs, and reduce emissions that cause urban smog and climate change. The analyses seek to dispel myths about the cost of renewable energy and its impact on agriculture.

Partnership Opportunity: The 25x’25 Initiative seeks a diverse and broad-based group of partners to join in its broader objective of promoting 25% renewable energy for America.

Update:
June 7, 2006:
A nonbinding resolution was introduced to Congress, calling for 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply provided via renewable sources by 2025. A bipartisan group of more than 30 lawmakers are supporting the effort to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign energy sources, in an initiative bringing together farmers, environmentalists, and leading US automakers.