Europe glances askance at biofuels

Posted By David Bosco Monday, January 14, 2008 - 3:33 PM Share

The European Union is reexamining its biofuels policy after finding evidence that increased demand might be endangering rainforests and causing other nasty side effects:

A couple of years ago biofuels looked like the perfect get-out-of-jail free card for car manufacturers under pressure to cut carbon emissions...Since then reports have warned that some biofuels barely cut emissions at all - and others can lead to rainforest destruction, drive up food prices, or prompt rich firms to drive poor people off their land to convert it to fuel crops.

It's hard not to get excited about the biofuel breakthroughs on the way (switchgrass, anyone?), but sorting out sustainable supply chains will take some time. One thing seems clear: Ethanol from corn ain't the answer. And with the Iowa caucuses now behind us, some presidential candidates may even be able to say so.

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