U.N. calls for biofuels debate

A major U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) report released on 16 October says biofuels, like all new technologies, present opportunities and challenges but countries must approach them in a sophisticated manner if they are to benefit the economy, the environment and society as a whole.

Biofuels are mostly produced from food crops including wheat, maize, sugarcane and vegetable oils, and advocates have hailed them as an important way to cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

But others argue that they may actually worsen the situation by leading to the destruction of ecosystems, offer limited energy savings and divert crops from a food chain already struggling to meet the demands of a growing global population.

‘On one level, it is a debate about which energy crops to grow and where, and also about the way different countries and biofuel companies promote and manage the production and conversion of plant materials for energy purposes. Some clearly are climate friendly, while others are highly questionable,’ UNEP executive director Achim Steiner says.

Steiner says it also involves a choice about how to use finite land resources and balance competing interests in a world of 6 billion people, rising to more than 9 billion by 2050.

The study, the first by UNEP's International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, cited the production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested tropical peatlands, which it said could lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions, up to 2,000% or more when compared with fossil fuels.

However, some first generation biofuels such as ethanol from sugarcane could have positive impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

Generating electricity at power stations using wood, straw, seed oils and other crop or waste material was ‘generally more energy efficient than converting biomass to liquid fuels.