by Carlton N. Owen (Forest Business Network)  … “Forest2Market’s new study proves what many of us in the forest sector have said for years — robust markets are the key to keeping forests as forests, “says …

by Sara Taginawa (Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  On Tuesday, July 25, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing examining the future of biofuels and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). According to …

by Seema Jayachandran, Joost de Laat, Eric F. Lambin, Charlotte Y. Stanton, Robin Audy, Nancy E. Thomas (Science Magazine)  Trees take up a lot of CO2, so one approach to reducing the rate of increase in …

(European Feed Manufacturers Federation)  COCERAL, FEDIOL and FEFAC members rely on the EU production of oilseeds, soy and other oil- and protein-containing crops. We share the objective of an increased production of soy in Europe. …

by Daryl Worthington (Biofuels International)   Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced the European Parliament Resolution on Palm Oil and Deforestation of Rainforests, describing it as ‘discriminative’.
In addition, the ministry claims the EU decision was …

(European Parliament/Biomass Magazine)  To counter the impact of unsustainable palm oil production such as deforestation and habitat degradation, particularly in Southeast Asia, the EU should introduce a single certification scheme for palm oil entering the …

(European Parliament News)  The EU should tackle the environmental impacts of unsustainable palm oil production, such as deforestation and habitat degradation, particularly in South-East Asia, says a non-binding report to be put to a vote …

by Sarantis Michalopoulos (EurActiv)  MEPs adopted a report on Thursday (9 March) urging the European Commission to phase out the use of palm oil as a component of biodiesel by 2020 “at the latest”.
In November, the …

(Phys.Org)  A new study published last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico offers the first regional look at lands being converted to palm oil plantations in …

(RightsAndResources.org)  Experts at Dakar event point to a significant cause of investment losses, work stoppages and violence across Africa: the failure of governments and companies to respect the land rights of indigenous and local communities
Sixty-three …

(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)  Climate Researchers Study Impacts of Land-use Change on Carbon Dioxide – Reforestation Is Important to Climate Protection and Species Diversity – Study in Nature Geoscience  —  CO2 emissions caused by changes …

(Environmental Research Web)  Cultivating algae for food and biofuel could make a serious dent in our greenhouse gas emissions, as well as helping to save freshwater resources and reduce deforestation.

Currently the emissions associated with land-use …

by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest)  In Belgium, following on from the November release of their joint publication “The Black Book of Bioenergy”, Birdlife Europe and Central Asia has again teamed with Transport & Environment on …

by Patrick Kent (Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers’ Association/Euractiv)  The key element of this renewable energy plan is that the ceiling for the crop biofuel component of EU transport fuels will be slashed from 7% …

(Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association) … According to Mr Kent (ICSA president Patrick Kent), this strategy flies in the face of logic. The Commission which was supportive of biofuels has now decided to reverse its …

by Brad Rich (Coastal Review Online)  As the U.S. and other countries have ramped up development of bio-energy as an alternative to fossil fuels, demand is rising for trees for wood pellets, or biomass, and agricultural …

by Vaidehi Shah (Eco-Business)  An investigative report by green groups from around the world has uncovered the role of Korean-Indonesian conglomerate Korindo in destroying precious, untouched ecosystems in Papua province.
One of Indonesia’s few remaining expanses of …

by Josh Schlossberg (The Biomass Monitor)  A white paper by a bioenergy industry consulting firm critiques a recent letter sent to Congress by 65 U.S. scientists opposing a carbon neutral “biomass” amendment to an energy policy …

(edie.net)  One of the world’s biggest pulp, paper and packaging firms has announced its support for a new community-led pilot scheme aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing the availability of bio-fuels …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  A provocative opinion piece on Europe’s reliance on unsound indirect land use change theory  —  It is clear there is a politicized agenda in Europe to undermine sustainable, liquid biofuels …

(GreenAir Online)  … UNFCCC launched in 2008 a programme called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD, later enhanced to REDD+) in developing countries through which a financial value could be created on the value …

(CLEANCOOK) An animated video showing a new clean cooking stove concept for the developing world. Highly automated production, optimized logistics and local assembly will bring proven technologies to the developing world markets at a lower cost …

(Biofuels International)  Blume Distillation, a biorefinery systems provider for bioethanol production, has announced the sale of its first Africa-based biorefinery.
The Blume biorefinery system has been purchased by Numbitrax, based in Touwsriver, Western Cape, South Africa, …

(Stockholm Environment Institute)  This discussion brief is based on findings from a workshop carried out by SEI in Addis Ababa in conjunction with the presentation of the SCIP study results…. It also draws on insights given by …

by Leticia Phillips (UNICA/Ethanol Producer Magazine)    Brazil and the U.S. have a responsibility to collaboratively build a global biofuels market, writes Leticia Phillips of UNICA, following a visit between Brazilian President and President Obama.
In …

by Olatomiwa Bifarin* (Advanced Biofuels USA)  Around 770,000 BC, it was fire, at some point – wood, dung and coal, to the now-ominous fossil fuels. This is the evolution of energy, and today the evolution …

(Ukrainian Biofuel Portal)  Nonetheless, the ecologists demonstrated their critical attitude towards the results of the research.  Lately, the use of biofuel is regarded as one of the most efficient ways to reduce the emissions into …

(Jakarta Post)  The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) is warning that the government’s policy to shift subsidies from fossil fuels to palm oil-based biofuel will only accelerate deforestation in this country.
“Shifting subsidies to land-based …

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  In the World Resources Institute (WRI) working paper, “Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land,” the authors work off the assumption that land-use decisions are used making an “either-or” …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  Today (January 30, 2015), the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) criticized a new report by World Resources Institute (WRI) for its false data on the environmental and land use impacts of biofuels. …

by Fiona Harvey (The Guardian)  We can fly, drive and prosper while avoiding dangerous global warming – but only if billions remain in poverty and huge changes are made in areas such as energy and …

(25x’25)  A report released today by the World Resources Institute would seem to demonstrate the old adage: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” The “change” in this instance is a massive …

(African Development Bank Group)  The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) approved a US $580,000 preparation grant for the expansion of Green Energy & Biofuels (GEB) Bio-refinery project in Nigeria. The project is a pilot …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  After six years of debate — finally a database appears on actual indirect land use change.  The Partners? Including Google, UNEP, Imazon, the Center for Global Development, the University of …

(EurekAlert/Dartmouth)  For first time, Dartmouth study puts a dollar value on snow’s reflection of solar energy
Replacing forests with snow-covered meadows may provide greater climatic and economic benefits than if trees are left standing in some …

by Thomas Darlington, Dennis Kahlbaum, Don O’Connor, Steffen Mueller, PhD (Air Improvement Resource, Inc./(S&T)2 Consultants Inc./University of Illinois, Chicago)  …The European Union (EU) is considering amending its current biofuel policy. The current policy, adopted in 2009, calls for 10% …

(Canadian Biomass)  The Canadian boreal forest is one of the world’s great natural treasures. Stretching from the Yukon in the west to Newfoundland and Labrador in the east, this ecologically diverse region contains the largest …

by Vicki Ekstrom (Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change/Renewable Energy World)  …Their study, recently released in Geophysical Research Letters, found that land-use changes caused by a major ramp-up in biofuel crops — enough …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  Neste Oil has begun using tall oil pitch as a feedstock for renewable diesel production. Neste Oil successfully tested tall oil pitch in commercial refinery operations in March and April …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Neste Oil, which had been criticized for its sourcing of deforestation-based palm oil, has pledged to shift away from palm oil sourced from primary forests, high conservation value and natural …

by Jim Lane (BioBased Digest)  …World Growth warns that the REDD+ program to reduce emissions from deforestation is fatally flawed.
At the UN climate conference in Qatar, World Growth released “Immoral Aid: The effect of REDD+ …

by C.-C. Tsao , J. E. Campbell, M. Mena-Carrasco, S. N. Spak, G. R. Carmichael, and Y. Chen  (Environmental Science and Technology)  Although biofuels present an opportunity for renewable energy production, significant land-use change resulting from …

by Luke Geiver (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  A team of researchers will spend the next five years assessing the social, economic and ecological impacts of bioenergy projects happening in Michigan, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Led by …

by Weiner and George Clingan (Miami Herald)  As the world watches the 2012 London Olympics, the United States ought to brace for a looming embarrassment at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Unless we act …

(World Watch Institute/Environmental News Network)  …In response to global criticisms that biofuels drive deforestation and threaten food security, Central American governments and interest groups specify that biofuel expansion will occur on “tierras ociosas”�—or vacant, unproductive …

(Environmental Research Web)  A new study from the University of California, Davis, provides a deeper understanding of the complex global impacts of deforestation on greenhouse gas emissions.
The study, published May 13 in the advance online …

by Francesco Guarascio and Barbara Lewis (Reuters)  The EU forestry and farming sectors will have to monitor and report from 2013 any changes to land use that could affect greenhouse gas emissions as part of the bloc’s …

(BiofuelsChat.com)  An in-depth analysis of U.S. land use patterns released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows total cropland decreased by 34 million acres from 2002 to 2007, the lowest level since USDA began …

by Maggie Koerth-Baker (BoingBoing)  …In a nutshell, that’s why liquid fuel is so valuable. So far, it’s the clear winner when we need energy for transportation—especially air transportation and heavy, long-distance shipping—because it allows you …

(Science Daily)  A new study by some of the world’s top experts on forest governance finds fault with a spate of international accords, and helps explain their failure to stop rampant destruction of the world’s …

by Fred Pearce   (New Scientist)  Climate negotiations were dealt a bombshell at the weekend when ecologists reported that carbon emissions from the destruction of tropical forests are probably only half previous estimates.
If we are emitting less …

by Marion Davis  (Stockholm Environment Insitute)  …SEI researchers are part of a large, collaborative project led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and funded by the European Commission to gauge the impact of …

by Jim Lane (Biomass Digest)  In Washington, the Environment Working Group has released a study that claims the impacts of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACESA)—which has already passed the House of Representatives—would …

(AvoidedDeforestationPartners.org)  Study Shows Rainforest Protections Would Net $200 Billion for US Soy, Beef, Timber and Oilseed Producers.
Leading U.S. farm and forest products groups May 26, 2010, called on Congress and the administration to help end tropical deforestation. The …

 World deforestation, mainly the conversion of tropical forests to agricultural land, has decreased over the past ten years but continues at an alarmingly high rate in many countries, FAO announced today.
Globally, around 13 million hectares …

(ETA) The environmental impact of clearing forests to make way for biofuel crops is such that using fossil fuel in cars is better for the environment than biofuels made from crops such as palm oil.
Under …

The Brazilian National Plan on Climate Change, launched in December 2008, comprises a set of over one hundred actions and programs to reduce carbon emissions across different sectors of the Brazilian economy.  The two main …