The green credentials of biofuels received a boost this week when a report by the European Commission found that some types produce lower emissions of greenhouse gas than previously thought.
The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) rshowed that sugar-beet ethanol produces 61% less in greenhouse-gas emissions than its fossil-fuel counterparts – a 27 per cent improvement on previous estimates.
Wheat ethanol’s green credentials were found to be 50 per cent better than previously thought.
The new findings will inform the debate about the level of greenhouse-gas savings the EU should demand of all biofuels, which currently stands at 35%.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The clearing of forests and the tilling of soil to establish new biofuel plantation must be taken into account when calculating carbon savings and a distinction must be made between first and second generation biofuels.”
The EU plans for biofuels to account for 10% of all transport fuel by 2020.
Second generation biofuel
There are key differences between first-generation biofuels, which use food crops such as corn, rapeseed, palm and soya, and the currently experimental second-generation fuels based on fibrous non-food plants which could be grown without displacing other crops and raising food prices.


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