Biofuels in the European Union: Facts and Uncertainties

Biofuels are currently the subject of a wide ranging societal and political debate. Questions of costs, security of energy supply, green house gas emissions, sustainability of production systems, impact on food production and on biodiversity are some of the many issues which have been associated with a renewed interest in that source of energy. Together with other stakeholders, the Joint Research Centre has been studying aspects relevant to biofuels in different contexts for a number of years. In order to provide an up-to-date analysis of policy issues and thereby contribute to the current debate, it has pulled together these results and other available studies. This has resulted in the present report which is presented as a contribution to an ongoing debate. It has not been adopted by the Commission and does not represent official policy of the Commission.