Countries must adopt a much more sophisticated approach to developing biofuels as a green energy option if they are to benefit the economy, the environment and society as a whole, the United Nations said on 16 October. A major U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) report  released on 16 October said biofuels, like all new technologies, presented opportunities and challenges. "Therefore a more sophisticated debate is urgently needed," UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner told reporters. "On one level, it is a debate about which energy crops to grow and where, and also about the way different countries and biofuel companies promote and manage the production and conversion of plant materials for energy purposes. Some clearly are climate friendly, while others are highly questionable." Steiner said it also involved a choice about how to use finite land resources and balance competing interests in a world of 6 billion people, rising to more than 9 billion by 2050. "The report makes it clear that biofuels have a future role, but also underlines that there may be other options for combating climate change, improving rural livelihoods and achieving sustainable development that may, or may not, involve turning ever more crops and crop wastes into liquid fuels."
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The full report is available on the UNEP website