According to an article published today at the Wall Street Journal:
"The most commonly used biofuels in the European Union are poised to play a reduced role in the bloc's fight against climate change, after lawmakers Thursday voted to limit their use in the transportation sector.
The European Parliament's environment committee voted in favor of limiting the share of food-based biofuel used in cars and trucks to 5.5% of total consumption. It said the change would address concerns that biofuels of this kind are raising food prices and may not be as environmentally beneficial as originally hoped.
However, it means that to meet its 2020 mandate that 10% of Europe's transport energy comes from renewable sources, the bloc will be relying on a much-faster expansion of electric cars and commercially unproven biofuels made from nonfood crops.
The biofuels legislation now goes to the European Parliament for a vote in September. If approved, it will then be negotiated with the European Council—composed of leaders from EU countries—before it is formally adopted.
The proposed change to biofuels legislation comes as the value of turning food crops like rapeseed, palm oil and sugar cane into transport fuel has become increasingly controversial.
Biofuels were lauded a decade ago as a way of emitting far-less carbon from cars and trucks than fossil fuels. But European Commission studies taking into account how land is used to grow the crops have concluded that there may be little or no benefit.
For instance, large amounts of carbon can be released if native forests have to be cleared to make way for biofuel crops.
Production of biofuels, notably corn ethanol in the U.S., has also been linked to higher food prices, as they reduce the amount of land available for other food crops".
