Commission delays action on indirect land-use change in relation to biofuels policy
Sat 12 February 2011
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The environmental campaign group T&E says that the EU is delaying any action on biofuels following research into the effects of indirect land-use change (ILUC) despite evidence which shows that the EU's policy on biofuels could be causing more greenhouse gas emissions than it saves. An announcement by the Commission on the subject had been expected in December.
T&E says that this delay is not only bad for the environment, but creates damaging uncertainty for the biofuels industry.
T&E claims that the Commission was initially reluctant to recognise the concept of ILUC, under which the use of fields for growing biofuel crops can lead to increased greenhouse gases as new land will have to be land cleared to grow food crops. In 2010, the Commission amassed numerous scientific studies and did some research of its own.
The UK Government responded to the European consultation on ILUC in October 2010. The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (see related adjacent link) also provided a response to the policy call.
The Commission now says that further analysis on the risks of ILUC is necessary, adding that a more detailed impact assessment will be released in July.
The UK Government is currently considering how best to implement the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) and is working to transpose the Directives and the sustainability requirements in the second half of 2011, and to implement by the end of 2011. The directives should have been transposed in December 2010. The Department says it will publish consultation documents shortly.
The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) requires the UK to ensure that 10% of energy consumed in transport comes from renewable sources by 2020 and to ensure that any biofuels used towards this target meet a number of mandatory sustainability criteria. These include that biofuels must deliver a greenhouse gas saving of at least 35%, and must not be sourced from areas of high biodiversity, from high carbon soils (such as rainforests or wetlands), or from nature protection areas.
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