A report published by the European Commission on 23 June 2026 updates the global expansion status of food and feed crops used for biofuels, confirming that oil palm, soybean, maize, and sunflower seed continued to show significant production area growth between 2014 and 2021. The report, required under Article 7 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807 and Article 26(2) of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001, finds that oil palm and sunflower seed had the highest annual net harvested area increases at 3.4% and 2.8% respectively, while sugar cane and sugar beet saw negative changes. Weighted average greenhouse gas emissions from land conversion for all eight monitored crops rose to 25 tCO2 per hectare per year, up from 19.6 tCO2 in the 2019 baseline, with oil palm the most emissions-intensive crop at 32.6 tCO2/ha/yr, 52% of which comes from peatland drainage.
The report draws on FAOstat, USDA, and national statistics for Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia, covering the period 2014-2021. It provides regional mapping focused on Indonesia and Malaysia for oil palm, Brazil for soybeans and sugar cane, and the Gran Chaco region (Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina) for soybeans. Soybean area expanded at 1.3% annually, with 19.9 tCO2/ha/yr linked to pasture displacement and deforestation in South America. Maize area grew 1.1% annually, emitting 22.5 tCO2/ha/yr. The findings support the EU's regulatory framework that classifies high indirect land-use change (ILUC) risk fuels as those from crops with annual expansion exceeding 1% on more than 100,000 hectares, with over 10% of that expansion occurring on high-carbon stock land. Such fuels face a decreasing cap that must reach zero by 2030, while low ILUC-risk certified fuels are exempt.
This is the first update since the Commission's 2019 report on the same topic. The data reinforces the case for the EU's phase-out of high ILUC-risk biofuels by 2030, as the continued expansion of oil palm, soybean, maize, and sunflower seed drives high-carbon stock land conversion and associated GHG emissions. The report does not propose new measures but fulfils a monitoring obligation under existing legislation.