When President George W. Bush announced last January that his government saw increased use of ethanol as a mechanism for partially decoupling his country’s economy from its oil dependency, it marked another milestone in the development of a fuel that is undergoing a renaissance. For investors it marks a return to thematic investing that taps into a complex blend of social and market trends.

The biofuels boom is not a fad, according to Jeffry Kuijpers, associate director, commodities products and services, EMEA at CME Group.