Use of palm oil for biofuel

Fossil fuels are re ned from coal, oil and gas, of which there is a limited global supply. Their consumption also releases stored CO2 into the atmosphere. By contrast, biofuels are derived from renewable biomass and are carbon neutral since their consumption releases CO2 previously absorbed from the atmosphere by growing the original feedstock. Humans have been using 12 to 20% of total terrestrial plant-based net primary production (NPP) (Haberl et al., 2007). Terrestrial plants essentially produce sugars, starch and oils, while their main constituents are lignocellulose and water. Only 10% of them are used to provide energy, with the remainder being used for animal feed (58%), materials (20%) and human food (12%) (Krausmann and Kowalski, 2008). Consequently, any additional uptake of terrestrial biomass for bioenergy use could increase the pressure on ecosystems if it means producing and harvesting more sugar, starch or oil than is already the case. This pressure on ecosystems lies at the heart of the potential adverse effects arising from the development of biofuels.