The U.K.'s chief environment scientist has called for a delay to a policy demanding inclusion of biofuels into fuel at pumps across the U.K., reports the BBC on its Web site Monday.
Professor Robert Watson said ministers should await the results of their inquiry into biofuels' sustainability.
Some scientists think biofuels' carbon benefits may be currently outweighed by negative effects from their production.
The Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, RTFO, is to introduce 2.5% biofuels at the pumps from 1 April.
Professor Robert Watson warned that it would be insane if the RTFO had the opposite effects of the ones intended.
He said biofuels policy in the European Union and the U.K. may have run ahead of the science.
His comments in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today program appear on the day when a coalition of pressure groups from Oxfam to Greenpeace writes to the Department for Transport demanding that the policy be delayed until after the review.