Biofuels manufacturers could soon be subject to more stringent legislation after a new report criticised the UK's current approach to production.
The Nuffield Council study into bioethics is the result of 18 months of research, and it suggests that current practices do not meet a sufficient ethical standard.
Failure to protect the environment or reduce greenhouse gas emissions are two of the charges laid at the sector by the Nuffield Council.
Professor Joyce Tait, who led the inquiry, said that biofuels have a very important part to play in the future of transport but current policies designed to encourage their use have "backfired badly".
"Researchers are developing new types of biofuels that need less land, produce fewer greenhouse gases and do not compete with food, but commercial-scale production is many years away," added co-author professor Ottoline Leyser.
Researchers at the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchirappalli, India, recently claimed to have developed a new technique involving nanoparticles that dramatically increases the energy efficiency of biofuel.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the biofuels industry includes:
