Comment on “Indirect land use change for biofuels: Testing predictions and improving analytical methodologies” by Kim and Dale: Statistical reliability and the definition of the indirect land use change (iLUC) issue

O'Hare, Michael; Delucchi, Mark; Edwards, Robert; Fritsche, Uwe; Gibbs, Holly; Hertel, Thomas; Hill, Jason; Kammen, Daniel; Laborde Debucquet, David; Marelli, Luisa; Mulligan, Declan; Plevin, Richard; Tyner, Wallace

Comment on “Indirect land use change for biofuels: Testing predictions and improving analytical methodologies” by Kim and Dale: Statistical reliability and the definition of the indirect land use change (iLUC) issue

Autores

Laborde Debucquet, David

Marelli, Luisa

Editor

Elsevier

Descripción

Indirect land use change for biofuels: Testing predictions and improving analytical methodologies" by S. Kim and B. Dale [1], presents a principal inference not supported by its results, that rests on a fundamental conceptual error, and that has no place in the current discussion of biofuels' climate effects. The paper takes correlation between two variables in a system with many interacting factors to indicate (or contraindicate) causation, and draws a completely incorrect inference from observed sample statistics and their significance levels.