How Meaningful Are ‘greenhouse Gas Standards’ for Biofuels in a Global Market?

This background paper discusses the usefulness of ‘greenhouse gas standards’, based on life-cycle greenhouse gas assessment in ensuring that biofuels mitigate rather than accelerate global warming. It looks at the importance of non-linear feedbacks which could result from deforestation, which could significantly accelerate ecosystem collapse and climate change; at the importance of indirect or ‘displacement’ impacts from agrofuel production; and at the remit and limitations of life-cycle greenhouse gas assessments. Finally, we briefly look at the wider debate about the amount of agrofuels which could theoretically be used without accelerating climate change and/or further destroying biodiversity, depleting freshwater supplies and soil.