SEARCHINGER, T. D., HAMBURG, S. P., MELILLO, J., CHAMEIDES, W., HAVLIK, P., KAMMEN, D. M., LIKENS, G. E., LUBOWSKI, R. N., OBERSTEINER, M., OPPENHEIMER, M., PHILIP ROBERTSON, G., SCHLESINGER, W. H. & DAVID TILMAN, G. 2009. Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error. Science, 326, 527-528.

The accounting now used for assessing compliance with carbon limits in the Kyoto Protocol and in climate legislation contains a far-reaching but fixable flaw that will severely undermine greenhouse gas reduction goals (1). It does not count CO₂ emitted from tailpipes and smokestacks when bioenergy is being used, but it also does not count changes in emissions from land use when biomass for energy is harvested or grown. This accounting erroneously treats all bioenergy as carbon neutral regardless of the source of the biomass, which may cause large differences in net emissions. For example, the clearing of long-established forests to burn wood or to grow energy crops is counted as a 100% reduction in energy emissions despite causing large releases of carbon.