U.S., Europe Going Opposite Way On Biofuels

Forbes.com
February 12, 2010 - 5:18 pm
Jonathan Fahey

It is becoming ever more apparent that there is one big squishy variable in the calculations that determine whether biofuels help the planet or help destroy it. That variable is called the indirect land use charge, and the U.S. and Europe are coming up with very different answers for it.

The concept goes like this: Planting crops for biofuels in the U.S. or Europe may cause someone in Brazil or Indonesia to put more earth under the plow. Clearing forest and digging up soil releases lots of carbon into the atmosphere -- the very thing biofuels are supposed to be helping to prevent. So whatever carbon benefit biofuels do produce should be reduced by the amount released by new farming.

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