The land-take issue
Until recently, it was assumed that the benefits of biofuels were mostly positive. However, this notion is now being challenged.
In 2007, the DfT(p 3) cautioned that major land-use change.
particularly deforestation and draining of peat bogs can completely negate the carbon saving from biofuels as well as causing damage to biodiversity and other ecosystem resources. However, although local impacts were being recognized, it was not until late 2007, when the OECD(2007) published a report ques- tioning the whole biofuels policy, that the global implications of their widespread use were fully realized. Searchinger(2008: 1) summarized the growing concern:
Previous studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland, New analyses are now showing that the loss of greer