Most of this comes from the United States, where it is produced from maize, and from Brazil, where it is made from sugarcane. As yet, the Asia Pacific region is still a minor player, producing around 2.5 billion litres of fuel ethanol each year, which is only 5 per cent of global output.8 However, the region is also expanding its output of bio-diesel. This is partly due to their potential environmental impact, and partly due to concern that their production will increase the volume of greenhouse gases. This occurs first during the process of land conversion.