Biofuels: Environmental Consequences and Interactions with Changing Land Use

The charge of the International SCOPE Biofuels Project is to perform an objective, science-based assessment in order to provide a comprehensive, systematic, and comparative analysis of the environmental benefits and costs of biofuel technologies. The project is being conducted both at the global (phase 1) and sub-global (phase 2) levels, so as to take into account specific physical and societal dimensions in the main regions of the world. The project is evaluating both first and second-generation liquid fuels, including both ethanol and biodiesel. The project is also evaluating gaseous biofuels (methane) and the use of solid biomass for energy (for example through pyrolysis and direct combustion)