Impressive biofuel support policies have in recent times been adopted in both the USA (with projected production of 60 billion liters of second-generation biofuel by 2022) and the European Union (with 10 % renewable energy in the transport sector by 2020). Due to the magnitude of the two markets and their sizeable biofuel imports, the US and EU mandates could become an important driver for the global development of advanced biofuels, since current scenarios from the International Energy Agency (IEA) evidence a shortfall in domestic production in both the US and EU that would need to be met with imports (US DOE 2010; EU 2010).

Although algae biofuels are not yet fully competitive in the biofuel market, many venture capital firms had made recent investments in algae fuel ventures (Oligae 2010). Accordingly, a set of policies to assist the development of microal­gae technology is being created and constantly improved. These policy incentives aim at increasing renewable energy deployment, in latu sensu, and subsequently will promote development in the algae industry.

In this context, the US Department of Energy published on May 2010 impor­tant information for the US policy trends in the “National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap” (US DOE 2010). This document represents the output of the National Algal Biofuels Workshop held in Maryland in 2008 and was intended to provide a comprehensive road map report that summarizes the state of algae biofuels technology and documents the techno-economic challenges that have to be met and taken into account before algal biofuel can be produced commercially.

Afterward, the US Environmental Protection Agency (U. S. EPA) suggested revisions to the National Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS). The proposed changes intended to address changes to the RFS program as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The revised statutory requirements establish new specific volume standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that must be used in transporta­tion fuel each year. The regulatory requirements for RFS will apply to domestic and foreign producers, and importers of renewable fuel (US EPA 2013).

While cellulosic ethanol is expected to play a large role in meeting the 2007 American Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) goals, a number of next-gen­eration biofuels show significant promise in helping to achieve the 21 billion gallon goal. Of these candidates, biofuels derived from algae, particularly microalgae, have the potential to help the US meet the new renewable fuels standard (RFS) while at the same time moving the nation ever closer to energy independence (US DOE 2010).

To accelerate the deployment of biofuels produced from algae, the American President Obama and the US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced on May 5, 2009, the investment of US $800 Millions on new research on biofuels in the American Recovery and Renewal Act (ARRA). This announcement included funds for the Department of Energy Biomass Program to invest in the research, development, and deployment of commercial algal biofuel processes (US EPA 2013). The funding will focus on algal biofuels research and development to make it competitive with traditional fossil fuels as well as the creation of a smooth tran­sition to advanced biofuels that use current infrastructure.

Meanwhile, in order to promote the use of energy from renewable sources, the European Parliament published on April 2009, the Directive 2009/28/EC, which estab­lishes a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources, as well as it establishes sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids (EU 2009).

By the end of 2010, a communication from the European Parliament has set the strategy for a competitive, sustainable, and secure energy future by 2020. The stra­tegic energy technology (SET) plan sets out a medium-term strategy valid across all sectors. Yet, development and demonstration projects for the main technologies (e. g., second generation biofuels) must be speeded up (EU 2010). The European SET plan lists several energy technologies, which will be required to bring together economic growth and a vision of a decarbonized society. It states that advanced biofuels, namely microalgae, are supposed to play a significant role. EU energy policy aims to represent a green “new deal,” which will hopefully enhance the com­petitiveness of EU industry in an increasingly carbon-constrained world. However, in our dataset, it was possible to include only three European studies. In the forth­coming years, it is expected a rise in the volume of European available data, due to both the strong European transport energy policy drivers and scenarios made avail­able by the IEA regarding Energy Technologies Perspectives 2010. In this sense, incentives and targets are to be met as well as the witnessing of a higher prolifera­tion of pilot-stage algae installations in this highly oil-dependent continent.