Leaping Before They Looked

The 2003 EU Biofuels Directive, intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support rural economies, has instead driven tropical deforestation, increased global CO2 emissions through peatland destruction, and exacerbated food insecurity. The report argues that current life-cycle analyses are inadequate for predicting these indirect market and land-use effects.

• The EU's 2003 Biofuels Directive failed to meet its initial consumption targets, achieving a market share of 1.4% against a 2.0% target for 2005, and is expected to miss its 2010 target of 5.75%.
• The Directive has incentivized the outsourcing of biofuel production to developing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, where lower production costs and higher energy yields from tropical crops like palm oil provide a competitive advantage over European crops.
• The demand for palm oil has led to massive deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, with some estimates suggesting 98% of lowland forest in Indonesia could be destroyed by 2022.
• The conversion of Southeast Asian peatlands for palm oil plantations releases approximately 2,000 million metric tons of CO2 annually, which equals 8% of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use and makes Indonesia the world's third-largest CO2 emitter.
• Biofuel production is linked to severe social issues, including the forced displacement of indigenous peoples and farmers from their lands and violent conflicts over land concessions in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
• The 'food-versus-fuel' conflict is intensifying as biofuel demand draws land away from food, animal feed, and fiber production, contributing to rising food prices and eroding food security for the world's poor.
• Current life-cycle analyses (LCAs) are insufficient for policy-making because they omit critical factors such as indirect land-use changes, market-driven commodity price shifts, and emissions from nitrogen-based fertilizers.

APA

LEWIS, J. (2007). Leaping Before They Looked. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093546/Leaping_Before_They_Looked.pdf

Chicago

LEWIS, JONATHAN. Leaping Before They Looked. Clean Air Task Force, 2007. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093546/Leaping_Before_They_Looked.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=LEWIS |first1=JONATHAN |title=Leaping Before They Looked |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=October 2007 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093546/Leaping_Before_They_Looked.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lewis2007leaping, author = {LEWIS, JONATHAN}, title = {{Leaping Before They Looked}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2007}, month = oct, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093546/Leaping_Before_They_Looked.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }