Biofuels could increase greenhouse gases: US studies

US experts warn that rules governing biofuel production encourage deforestation and mean the technology is therefore a “false” method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In a study to be published Friday in the US journal Science, a group of 13 scientists called for the rules, which contain a loophole exempting carbon dioxide emitted by bioenergy regardless of its source, to be overturned.
The study said it meant that “bioenergy from any source, even that generated by clearing the world’s forests, a potentially cheap, yet false, way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Research released by the World Wildlife Fund on Thursday found that 13 million hectares (32.1 million acres) of forests are destroyed around the world each year — equivalent to 36 football fields per minute.

Deforestation generates almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, said the environmental group.

“Halting forest loss has been identified as one of the most cost-effective ways to keep the world out of the danger zone of runaway climate change,” the group said.

Those that benefit most from the loophole are oil companies, power plants and other energy industry firms producing biofuels who engage in deforestation in response to tighter limits on pollution.

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