EPA Implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard | Union of Concerned Scientists

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EPA Implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard

Let the Science Guide Biofuels Policy

Biofuels as Part of a Smart Bioenergy Initiative
The Union of Concerned Scientists began its Smart Bioenergy Initiative—a guide to sustainable development of bio-based energy and fuels—to show that the use of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel can reduce our dependence on gasoline and help move us to a clean energy future. But not all biofuels are created equal, and today’s food-based biofuels, such as corn ethanol, deliver few if any benefits to our warming climate.

Biofuels have the potential to play a role in a low-carbon future, but only if scientifically sound policies are put in place to track the “seed to tailpipe” emissions of the fuels produced and to encourage the production and use of lower-carbon fuels.

Conventional Biofuels Industry Seeks to Muffle the Science
Tracking biofuel emissions is a developing science, but the most recent peer-reviewed studies indicate that land use change—when forests and grasslands are converted to cropland for biofuel production—is a significant source of emissions, and must be taken into account in any policy development. The conventional ethanol industry, led by lobbyist associations such as Growth Energy, have been attempting to use the fact that the global warming impact of land use and biofuels is still a developing science as a reason to leave any mention of it from today’s biofuels policy. Further, Growth Energy has attempted to inject politically charged language into what should be a scientific debate. A recent Growth Energy press release on the subject states that “Indirect land use change theory uses speculative models and incorrect assumptions in an attempt to blame American farmers for deforestation in Brazil.”