Spurred by the ambitious targets set by the EU to increase the
share of renewable energy sources [1], all the member states are
currently setting policies at various levels to accelerate the implementation of bioenergy production. However, the increased production of bioenergy from energy crops inevitably induces changes in
the land use patterns which, in turn, can lead to substantial impacts,
particularly on biodiversity and soil quality [2] and affect other
economic activities. The flourishing literature in the field of LCA of
crop-based biofuels [3–5], including biowaste [6] and agricultural
residuals [7], energy feedstock [8–11] and algae [12,13], shows
scattered results and proves that the debate is still far from being
concluded.