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VOLUME 35 NUMBER 10 OCTOBER 2017 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY Bioenergy is responsible directly and indirectly for almost 3 million global jobs globally—about the same as photovoltaics and three times that of wind—with liquid biofuels responsible for a little over half this total, and solid biomass and biogas making up the balance9. Estimates for direct liquid biofuel jobs in the United States range from 100,000 to 300,000 (ref. 10), which may be compared to about 370,000 direct jobs in the US solar industry and about 70,000 for coal mining11,12. Sugarcane production in Brazil, about half of which is used for ethanol, is the largest agricultural employer in that country. Compared with other agricultural workers, laborers in the cane industry have the greatest representation in the formal economy and achieve higher levels of education13. Towns with ethanol plants in Brazil have higher tax revenues than comparable towns that do not14. The grand challenge of cellulosic biofuels