UNEP report slams biofuels

Oct 22, 2009

What the UNEP report actually says is this: "Increased biofuel production is expected to have large impacts on biological diversity in the coming decades, mostly as a result of habitat loss, increased invasive species and nutrient pollution."

What the UNEP report actually says is this:

"Increased biofuel production is expected to have large impacts on biological diversity in the coming decades, mostly as a result of habitat loss, increased invasive species and nutrient pollution."

"Clearing the natural vegetation mobilises the stocked carbon and may lead to a carbon debt, which could render the overall GHG mitigation effect of biofuels questionable for the following decades."

"there is a potential risk for competition between food and fuel, and consequences on food prices as a result."

"For net consuming regions like the EU and countries like Germany, models have shown that an increased use of biofuels would lead to an overall increase in absolute global cropland requirements. This implies that if biofuels are produced on existing cropland, other production - in particular for serving the growing food demand beyond the capacities to increase yields - will be displaced to other areas ("indirect land use"). As long as the global cropland required for agricultural based consumption grows, displacement effects, land conversion and related direct and indirect impacts may not be avoided through selected production standards for biofuels."

"Clearing the natural vegetation mobilises the stocked carbon and may lead to a carbon debt, which could render the overall GHG mitigation effect of biofuels questionable for the following decades. The total CO2 emissions from 10% of the global diesel and gasoline consumption during 2030 was estimated at 0.84 Gt CO2, of which biofuels could substitute 0.17 to 0.76 Gt CO2 (20-90%), whereas the annual CO2 emissions from direct land conversion alone are estimated to be in the range of 0.75 to 1.83 Gt CO2."

http://www.unep.fr/energy/bioenergy/documents/pdf/Assessing%20Biofuels-full%20report-Web.pdf