A Recent Review of Biofuels, Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change

Biofuels development has become a national policy agenda in many countries, with the hope of a promise to bring better energy security, and better environmental quality through the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The reduction in GHG emissions from the use of transport biofuels could be possible, as long as this is not counteracted by the increase in emissions during the the production and processing of the biomass to biofuels. According to recent estimates, about 28% of the total greenhouse gas emissions are contributed from agriculture and land use change.

After years of having biofuels at the forefront of national policy, can biofuels be really considered as an "advantageous energy source"? A recent review by researchers from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) attempted to answer the question. In their review paper, they first presented various biofuels in terms of state-of-the-art production technologies, plus production/consumption rates. Then they described the political and economic frameworks which promote biofuels development, but fail to convince the stakeholders about the sustainability of biofuels. Finally, they address the issue of "biofuel quality" with focuses on greenhouse gas emissions and the potential of biofuels to mitigate climate change.

Among the highlights of the review are: (1) the contribution of biofuels in the total energy consumption mix will be limited by scarcity of available land, unless new technologies can improve cost-effectiveness in biomass production yields, (2) bioenergy chains are location-specific; some may work in some locations, some may not. The maximum benefits of biofuels can be derived only if "the best appropriated bioenergy chain mix is chosen in accordance with local conditions", (3) harmonization of biofuel policies at an international level is important, in order to ensure "the overall complementarity of bioenergy chains, to provide a coherent framework for the markets and to control the sustainability of the systems", (4) carbon dioxide (or carbon-) sequestration would have a mitigating effect on the "significant part of global greenhouse gas emissions cannot be avoided".

The full paper is published in the journal, Agronomy for Sustainable Development (URL above).