A new and straightforward method to transform carbohydrate-based biomass to formic acid (FA) by oxidation with molecular oxygen in aqueous solution using a Keggin-type H 5 PV 2 Mo 10 O 40 polyoxometalate as catalyst is presented. Several water-soluble carbohydrates were fully and selectively converted to formic acid and CO 2 under very mild conditions. It is worth noting, even complex biomass mixtures, such as poplar wood sawdust, were transformed to formic acid, giving 19 wt% yield (11% based on the carbon atoms in the feedstock) under non-optimized conditions.