European Union policy on the use of biofuels has been questioned in a major new report from the Open University and the Transnational Institute.
"Our research found the harmful effects of biofuel cultivation could significantly undermine the environmental benefits,” Dr Les Levidow, Senior Research Fellow at The Open University, said.
“The EU has promoted biofuels in the name of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If conventional biofuel usage goes much above 6% of transport fuels, it will trigger large-scale indirect land use changes, which could undermine the supposed savings in greenhouse gas from substituting biofuels for oil."
Dr Les Levidow is a senior research fellow in the Development Policy and Practice in the OU's faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology.
Read the full story on the OU news release site here.
See report based on the research.
Photo: Thinkstock
