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A sweetener for biofuels

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The climate impact of biofuels is usually considered in terms of their net effect on greenhouse-gas emissions. The expansion of sugar cane into pastureland for biofuel production is now shown to also exert a direct local cooling effect.

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Figure 1: Effects of increased biofuel use and sugar-cane expansion on climate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Richard A. Betts is at the Met Office Hadley Centre, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK.,

    Richard A. Betts

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  1. Richard A. Betts
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Correspondence to Richard A. Betts.

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Betts, R. A sweetener for biofuels. Nature Clim Change 1, 99–101 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1102

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