Biofuels 'need strict standards' - BBC

[Eugene]

Source: BBC News

Last Updated: Friday, 22 February 2008, 18:35 GMT

Biofuels 'need strict standards'
By Tim Hirsch
Environment reporter, Brasilia

Biofuels should only be produced if they meet strict
environmental standards, an international group of
lawmakers have concluded.

The legislators said the fuels also had to deliver
significant savings of greenhouse gas emissions.

If such criteria were met, they said there should be
an urgent review of the tariffs that currently block
imports into markets such as the EU and US.

-snip-

It is also argued that in some cases the benefits to
the climate of burning plant material instead of
fossil fuels are outweighed by the energy needed to
produce and transport biofuels, and by the release
of carbon from soils by changes in land use.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7259593.stm