Issue Briefing: The Role of Food Crops as Transportation Fuel

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) warns that using food crops like corn and soybeans for biofuels increases food prices, degrades ecosystems, and can raise global warming pollution through land conversion. The UCS advocates for a shift toward 'better' biofuels derived from waste or non-food biomass, supported by a low-carbon fuel standard and performance-based public funding. While the 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) provides a foundation by requiring pollution reductions from new facilities, the UCS argues for broader sustainability criteria to prevent deforestation and protect biodiversity.

• The use of food crops such as corn and soybeans for biofuels contributes to higher food prices and environmental degradation, including the pollution of air, water, and soil, and the depletion of soil carbon and nutrients.
• Biofuel production from food crops can increase global warming pollution by inducing the clearing of carbon-rich ecosystems, such as rain forests in South America and Southeast Asia, where emissions from soil and trees may outweigh the benefits of replacing gasoline.
• Sustainable alternatives, such as biofuels made from waste, non-food crops, or mixed native grasses grown on marginal land, can reduce global warming pollution without driving up food prices or requiring extensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
• The 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires new facilities to reduce global warming pollution based on full life cycle assessments and creates a market for advanced biofuels, but it is limited because it only covers about 10 percent of fuel for cars and trucks and exempts existing ethanol facilities from pollution standards.
• The UCS recommends four policy pillars for sustainable biofuels: utilizing the RFS foundation, implementing a low-carbon fuel standard for per-gallon pollution reduction, tying public subsidies and tax credits (such as the $0.51 per gallon credit) to performance, and establishing broad sustainability criteria to prevent deforestation and protect biodiversity.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2008). Issue Briefing: The Role of Food Crops as Transportation Fuel. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Food-for-Fuels-Factsheet.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Issue Briefing: The Role of Food Crops as Transportation Fuel. 2008. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Food-for-Fuels-Factsheet.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Issue Briefing: The Role of Food Crops as Transportation Fuel |date=October 2008 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Food-for-Fuels-Factsheet.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2008issue, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Issue Briefing: The Role of Food Crops as Transportation Fuel}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2008}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Food-for-Fuels-Factsheet.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }