Report: Biofuels Worse than Fossil Fuels

The report said biodiesel made from vegetable oil is worse for the climate than fossil fuels.

The rising use of biofuels in the United Kingdom is causing more environmental problems than it solves, and biodiesel made from vegetable oil is worse for the climate than fossil fuels, according to a new report by British independent policy think tank Chatham House.

Biofuel use in the United Kingdom will hit 5 percent of transport volumes in the current fiscal year and is set to rise much more by 2020 under European Union (EU) targets, the report says.

Among the concerns cited are additional cost for fuel; food insecurity for low-income, food-importing countries brought on by the use of food crops for fuel; and expansion of agriculture into areas like rainforest or peatland resulting in the elimination of large carbon stocks.

"Biofuels increase costs and they are a very expensive way to reduce carbon emissions," Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, told BBC News.

Bailey said incentives for the use of biofuel are distorting the marketplace, including making used cooking oil - one of the most sustainable types of biodiesel - more expensive than refined palm oil.

"It creates a financial incentive to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then sell it at profit," he said.

"It is crazy but the incentives are there."

There are also worries that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is creating more climate problems than it solves.

"Once you take into account these indirect effects, biofuels made from vegetable oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from using diesel in the first place," said Bailey.

Last year, EU governing body the European Commission (EC) proposed a limit on food-based biofuels to address some of these issues and encourage the development of more sustainable biofuels.

The U.S. military said last year that by the end of 2020 it aims to have half the fuel used in Navy ships and aircraft coming from renewable sources, and a U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) report said that algae-based biofuels reduce emissions by Up To 25 percent.