Brussels, 27/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - A report by a group of international experts, whose work is supported by the European Commission, was published on 16 October by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), bringing greater clarity to the highly controversial issue of biofuels, without, however, taking a clear-cut position. Presented as an alternative to fossil energy sources that emit greenhouse gases, biofuels - at least the first generation of biofuels (ethanol produced from sugar cane or maize, biodiesel from soya, palm oil and colza) - have been accused of taking over the farmland needed for food production, with only mitigated results when it comes to energy provision. The UNEP considers policies that encourage the use of biofuels must be reviewed and objectives readjusted to levels that are sustainable. It believes that between 8 and 34% of farmland would be needed to supply 10% of the demand for first generation biofuels in transport by 2030 worldwide. Although, on one side, biofuels can replace 0.17 to 0.76 billion tonnes of fossil CO2, on the other the change in land use would lead to a rise in emissions of 0.75 to 1.83 billion tonnes of CO2, UNEP notes. It goes on to specify that, as a whole, agricultural biofuel production will lead to a rise in greenhouse gas missions in the coming decades. After reviewing the climate advantages and disadvantages of the various biofuels, the UNEP suggests governments conduct research on: - harmonisation of biofuel standards on the basis of an internationally recognised assessment of life cycles taking into account environmental aspects (greenhouse gas emissions linked to fertiliser, the impact on water and impact on land use); - reassessment of missions, current quotas and targets for biofuels; - limits to land areas used for growing crops in natural ecosystems (forests and zones with high biodiversity); - the evaluation of the quantity of land in the world that has been deteriorated; - and R&D on the environmental performance of new generation fuels, derived from waste or plant waste such as witchgrass or marine algae. For further details on the report see: http://www.unep.en (E.H./transl.jl)