The European Commission recently proposed to review the existing 2009/28/EC Directive on biofuels, in order to increase their environmental sustainability and to decrease the recourse to alimentary biomasses. The paper evaluates the impact of this proposal on the emerging bioethanol production system in northern Italy and compares it with the current European Directive by analyzing the results of the supply chain economic optimization based on a mixed integer linear programming model. The impact of the proposed policy is also assessed in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel security. Eventually, the effects on fuel consumers and taxpayers are taken into account. (C) 2014 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.