Enjeux - Biofuels

CRITICISMS

Challenged as petrol alternative

In a context of climate change and sharp rises in oil barrel prices in recent years, biofuels are often presented by their advocates as an alternative to petrol and as the best-adapted sustainable energy source for vehicles. But critics attack biofuels for their mixed environmental performance and excessive cost, for the way they reduce biodiversity and, most of all, because they take up too much agricultural land – land that was previously used to make food.  

Deforestation and reduced biodiversity

The production of biofuels from agricultural products has increased the surface of cultivated land in countries such as Brazil and Malaysia. Critics point to deforestation, reduced biodiversity, increased risks of soil erosion and excessive water use, accusing biofuel-producing countries of being guided purely by economic imperatives.

Strong competition with food production

Although the price of foodstuffs has fallen sharply since, in 2007 the growth of the bioethanol industry was presented as one of the factors responsible for the strong rise in the price of agricultural commodities on world markets, which led to food crises and hunger riots. The significant development of bioethanol production in Brazil using sugar cane had no particular effect on the price of sugar. However, the price of tortillas, a basic food in Latin America, rocketed in Mexico because the country’s corn producers preferred to export their crops at a high price to the USA, where they are transformed into bioethanol. 
Countries that are dependent on cereal imports – Egypt, for example – fear that such incidents will repeat and that the increase in land area used to cultivate cereals for biofuel production will once again threaten their food supply.

Environmental credentials called into question

While everyone agrees that we need to develop alternative solutions to petrol, the environmental credentials of biofuels are regularly called into question. Some people challenge the objectivity of the studies assessing their energy performance and their contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases. They also denounce the sector’s overwhelming emphasis on high productivity.

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Les autres dossiers :

• Les OGM au coeur de la controverse
• Les Biocarburants : une voie d'avenir ?
• La PAC est-elle indispensable ?
• Les phytosanitaires : à bannir ?
• L'agriculture : une menace pour la biodiversité ?
• Agriculture et gestion de l’eau, sont-elles incompatibles ?
• Les attaques contre la viande sont-elles justifiées ?