Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt

Biofuels represent a more carbon-neutral future than today's petroleum-based fuels. Biofuels can be harvested from a variety of sources, each with different impacts on the environment, food security, and overall sustainability. Different environments, such as tropical rain forests, abandoned farmland, and peat forests, represent different ways of obtaining biofuels. Clearing existing plant, forest, and other carbon sink matter will release CO2 into the atmosphere, which can be quantified. This "carbon debt" ought to be paid back by the biofuel productivity of the planted biofuel crops. The nature of the crop influences the rate at which the debt is paid back. Using abandoned agricultural lands with perennial crops offers the most sustainable plan towards reducing carbon emissions through biofuels.