As the COP30 climate change negotiations approach, a group of world scientists has called for limits to be placed on biofuels, amid growing scientific evidence that the biologically sourced, non-fossil fuel materials are worse for the environment than the fossil fuels they are supposed to replace.
An open letter, signed by nearly 100 members of the worldwide scientific community, has gone out to global leaders, asking them to “recognise the dangers of an uninhibited expansion of global biofuels demand.” The letter points to research that shows, on average, biofuels emit 16% more than fossil fuels.
An annual event, COP or the Conference of the Parties, is the largest global United Nations summit for discussions and negotiations on climate change, with a presidency that rotates among the five UN-recognised regions. In 2025, Brazil is playing host in Belém, Pará, a city the country says, “will provide the world with a unique platform to discuss climate solutions, firmly rooted in the heart of the Amazon.”
Despite saying it is “committed to strengthening multilateralism and the implementation of the Paris Agreement,” Brazil wants to double biofuel use by 2030. However, even at today’s production rates, net global greenhouse gas emissions are forecast to increase by nearly 34 MtCO₂e every year, due to global cropland expansion and high-emissions crop cultivation, “equivalent to nearly 30 million new diesel cars on the road,” the letter says.
Other risks include the way biofuel production can “displace and disturb natural ecosystems, especially in biodiverse and carbon-rich regions,” as well as “devastating consequences for soil, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems” due to the consumption of “scarce water resources” and the production of “agricultural runoff.”
#COP30 begins next week — a defining moment for global climate action. It must be the turning point where we rebuild trust in multilateralism and prove that collective action works.
— Sanda Ojiambo (@SandaOjiambo) November 5, 2025
Our goal is clear: to keep the 1.5°C limit within reach, accelerate the clean energy transition… pic.twitter.com/heBsezgKAC
The letter also says biofuel expansion will “exacerbate global hunger, by directly increasing food prices, intensifying food price volatility in vulnerable economies and diverting calories from human consumption.”
Non-governmental organisations in biofuel economies are already campaigning for cultivation caps, improved traceability, and decentralised, community-based governance solutions.
If global leaders choose to act on the letter, it would not be the first time biofuel production has been regulated. Five years ago, the European Union limited first-generation, crop-based biofuels to a seven percent share of the bloc’s transport energy.
Commenting on the scientists’ plea to global lawmakers, Cian Delaney, a biofuels campaigner at the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), said. “The evidence is clear, burning crops for fuel is a bad idea. We can’t ignore the effects they have on the climate, ecology and food security. Governments must turn to truly sustainable alternatives rather than pushing solutions that, in many cases, do more harm than good.”
