Carbon cost of biofuels may alter EU policy

Nature : In 2003, the European Union adopted a policy mandating the development and use of biofuels. Over the past 10 years, a €15 billion ($20 billion) biofuel industry has sprung into existence across Europe. The most recent law regarding biofuels was passed in 2009 and required the carbon impact cost of fuels to be decreased by 6% by 2020, at which time renewables must make up 10% of fuel sources. Biofuels count toward the renewables requirement if they produce a carbon cost savings of 35% over traditional fuels (or 50% from 2017 onward). However, the EU’s calculations were made prior to a 2008 Science article by Tim Searchinger of Princeton University in New Jersey and his colleagues, in which they highlighted the carbon cost of using agricultural lands for fuel sources. The paper revealed that when land costs were considered, many biodiesel sources produce more carbon emissions than bioethanol, and often even more than fossil fuels. That effect reduces the EU’s carbon savings by two-thirds. In response, the EU has been attempting to change its fuel policies, but is facing resistance from farmers and the biofuels industry.