This figure indicates land requirements for biofuels production in response to current biofuels mandates. Depending on projected biofuels demand and available arable land, additional land requirements may exceed a nation’s own resources, and hence have a spill-over effect on other countries and regions. For example, studies indicate that most European countries will not have sufficient available land resources to produce the feedstocks required to comply with the blending mandates prescribed in the European Renewables Directive themselves. In the case of Germany, it is projected that by 2030 an estimated 10-11 million hectares of agricultural land would be needed to produce the biomass to comply with the biofuels blending mandate. Given current land use, the majority of that land would be outside Germany and most feedstock imported, such as palm oil from Indonesia and soy from Brazil.

Year: 2012

From collection: Biofuels Vital Graphics - Powering Green Economy

Cartographer: Riccardo Pravettoni, UNEP/GRID-Arendal