Large-scale biofuels production: A possible threat to soil conservation and environmental services

Biofuels have been promoted as a sustainable energy carrier, able to supply fuels while reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHGs) within the energy sector. It is also believed that biofuels will offer new income opportunities to farmers and create new jobs in rural areas. I argue that this may be a far too optimistic picture. Biofuels have poor energy performance (in actual fact, their use requires a high volume of subsidies), are potentially in conflict with food production and have high environmental impacts, especially on soil, forests and natural resources. Large scale biofuels production may cause detrimental effects on those key ecosystem services that we should strive to preserve, in particular when considering soil health. Assessing the sustainability of energy carriers requires a comprehensive assessment able to address multiple issues at the same time. It is necessary to rethink biofuels policy in view of preserving soil heath and key ecosystem services. Agricultural policies would better focus on supporting farmers in the adoption of more sustainable farming practices. Policies aiming at preserving forests are also necessary. Subsidies could be used to explore different renewable energy sources, with a lower impact on our support systems, and more sustainable agricultural practices. Eventually, rethinking our development patterns may become necessary in order to cope with the Earth's limited resources and reduce the alarming trends associated with the environmental impact of human global societal metabolism.