WASHINGTON – World scientists and leaders made an error in calculating the contribution of biofuels to greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent article in Science magazine, the Washington Post reports.
The method used undercounted some bioenergy crops because land-use changes were not considered.
A team of 13 researchers wrote the article, claiming that a mistake had been made on how much of an impact biofuels have on greenhouse gas emissions. “We made an honest mistake within the scientific framing of the debate, and we’ve got to correct it to make it right,” said scientist Steven P. Hamburg of the Environmental Defense Fund, who co-wrote the paper.
U.S. and European officials, along with other countries, calculated the greenhouse gas emissions limit by not counting the carbon released by burning biofuels. However, when a biofuel producer clears and burns trees to grow a crop destined for biofuel, carbon is released. The emissions limit for energy use did not take into account such land-use activities, like clearing forests.
The Kyoto Protocol, the European Union’s carbon market and the House-approved climate bill all do not take into account the carbon released due to changing land use for biofuel crops. House leaders ran out of time to make the change in the climate bill, but will work on “developing appropriate provisions” to resolve the matter, said House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN).
Growth Energy does not want a change in how carbon emissions is calculated. “In truth, there’s no new science in this report,” said Tom Buis, chief executive of Growth Energy. “It’s a policy proposal, trying to get a new standard that would limit the ability of developing countries to provide food and fuel — and would keep our own nation addicted to imported oil.”
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