European Commission to put forward a proposal on the indirect land-use change (ILUC) impacts of biofuels, as part of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive.

If you take a field where you are already growing food and switch to growing biofuels, the demand for food will still be there, so you will still need to grow it elsewhere. If this food is then grown on land that is cleared by cutting down forests or reprocessing soil, large amounts of carbon emissions can be released.