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An MPs' report that says biofuels are not as green as we all thought has been dismissed as scaremongering by a biofuel producer. The Environmental Audit Committee said the drive to produce more biofuel is producing widespread deforestation and pushing up food prices as more land is used to grow biofuel crops.

But Colin Hygate, MD of Gloucestershire-based Green Fuels, says the MPs failed to understand the way the UK biofuels industry  works: "The deforestation that has undoubtedly occurred is a result of the rush by some countries to produce biofuel on the same scale as fossil fuels - but that's not the case in the UK.

The industry here is being criticised because of a lack of understanding of the structure and activity of the industry as a whole and it's just scaremongering." Hygate explains that most biofuel in the UK is made using sustainably sourced vegetable oils often used rape or sunflower seed oil from the catering industry.