The drafts state that biodiesel and other "green" fuels that Europeans put in their cars can have unintended consequences for tropical forests and wetlands.

The biofuel industry, including ethanol and biodiesel, has experienced incredible growth in the past few years. In Europe, it is expected that at least 500 million people will rely on "green fuel" instead of conventional fossil-fuel for transportation.

Experts around the world have questioned for years the viability of biofuels, and started the never-ending debate of food vs. fuel. According to a report from Reuters, a European draft report on the effects of biofuel said that "the simulated effects of EU biofuels policies imply a considerable shock to agricultural commodity markets."

"Current and future support of biofuels...is likely to accelerate the expansion of land under crops, particularly in Latin America and Asia... It carries the risk of significant and hardly reversible environmental damages," adds the draft.

But the impact studies and emails show for the first time that European policymakers are also seriously worried about the impact on tropical forests, wetlands and savannah. However, they are struggling to quantify the likely damage.

The European Commission officials are split over the wisdom of continuing with a target that was set in 2008 and already prompted billions of dollars of investment globally.

One internal letter from an agriculture official warns that taking account of the full carbon footprint of biofuels could "kill" an EU industry worth about 5 billion euros a year ($6.8 billion).

At the center of the debate is an issue referred to as "indirect land use change," which has put palm oil producers in Malaysia and Indonesia in the cross-hairs of environmentalists.

Critics say that regardless of where they are grown, biofuels compete for land with food crops, forcing farmers worldwide to expand into areas never farmed before.

Satisfying the EU's thirst for biofuels would need 5.2 million hectares of land by 2020, reads one report - a bigger area than the Netherlands.

Draining peatlands can have a similar impact as soils rot and release methane gas into the atmosphere.

If just 2.4 percent of European biofuels came from palm oil grown on former peatlands, for example in Indonesia, the entire climate benefits of EU biodiesel would be wiped out, says a report by the Commission's own research center.

Increased demand for the cereals and oil seeds from which biofuels are made does not always result in farmers expanding agricultural land. Sometimes they can increase yield by using fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.

Source: Reuters