The European Union's policy of promoting biofuels may cause more environmental damage than conventional fuels if important environmental safeguards are not put in place, warned conservation organisations in a recent conference.
The conference, 'A Sustainable Path for Biofuels in the class='UCASE'>eu', organised by BirdLife International, a conservation group, the European Environmental Bureau, a federation of European environmental organisations and European Federation for Transport and Environment, an environmental organisation, called on the European Commission to create sustainability safeguards as part of the revision of the biofuels directive.
A study claims meeting class='UCASE'>eu's target of replacing 5.75 per cent fossil fuels with biofuels would consume 14-27 per cent of class='UCASE'>eu's agricultural land because oilseed production would double and if need the import spend would increase.