The EU Commission is required to produce a report on how it intends to deal with indirect effects induced by biofuels by March 2010. The industry makes pressure to not include this factor in the calculation of GHG emission from biofuels production. Why?

If emissions from ILUC are accurately calculated, based on the precautionary principle, this will undermine the rationale for the biofuel target as most biofuels do not reduce greenhouse house gas emissions once ILUC is taken into account. A strong ILUC factor will also help to knock out some of the worst biofuel crops.


What is ILUC?

ILUC = indirect land use change

The increasing use of biofuels is resulting in changes in land use as land is given over to growing biofuel crops. Indirect land use change (ILUC) occurs when land that was previously used for food or animal feed is turned over to growing biofuels, displacing the original agriculture on that land to new areas. So, although the biofuel crop itself may not be causing new land clearance directly, it can still be held responsible for displacing other activities into new land.

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