A Climate Killer Disguised as a Climate Solution

Michael Grunwald · 6 Jun 2023

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Biofuels have probably raised greenhouse gas emissions rather than lowered them, once the land they take is counted.

Their wordsBut I think it’s important to tell the whole story, so I have a new piece in the New York Times pointing out that biofuels are also a catastrophe for the climate and the environment.

Also said by Hannah Ritchie

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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Support for biofuels raises food prices and worsens global hunger.

Their wordsIt’s not exactly news that the American government’s support for biofuels increases food prices, intensifies global hunger and wastes taxpayer dollars.
Our reading
Biofuels have probably raised greenhouse gas emissions rather than lowered them, once the land they take is counted.
Mental modelSecond-order thinking

Their wordsBut I think it’s important to tell the whole story, so I have a new piece in the New York Times pointing out that biofuels are also a catastrophe for the climate and the environment.
Our reading
An acre of solar panels powering electric cars carries you orders of magnitude further than an acre of crops grown for fuel.

Their wordsan acre of solar panels generates as much energy as 100 acres of corn grown for ethanol.
Our reading
The world spends an area larger than California growing under four per cent of its transport fuel.

Their wordsThe world now uses a land mass larger than California to grow less than 4 percent of our transportation fuel.
Our reading
Land is good at growing food and storing carbon and bad at growing energy, and we have better ways to grow energy.

Their wordsLand is really good at growing food and storing carbon, but it sucks at growing energy—and fortunately, we have better ways to grow energy.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.