Further NGO reports critical of biofuels policy published
Wed 17 April 2013
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Two new reports have been published which are critical of current European and UK biofuels policy. A Chatham House report says that biofuel use in the UK is set to increase but that current standards do not ensure its use is sustainable. A separate report from T&E, the EEB, BirdLife Europe and IISD is critical of the amount of financial support the biofuels industry has received without, it claims, delivering clear environmental benefit.
The Chatham House report author, Rob Bailey, says that in the current financial year (2013/14) UK biofuel use will increase to 5 per cent of transport volumes, the highest level ever. It says agricultural biofuel use increases the level and volatility of food prices and also indirectly drives expansion of agriculture into areas of high carbon stock such as rainforest or peatland, resulting in indirect land-use change and an increase in emissions that is not readily quantifiable but which could outweigh savings.
The report is more supportive of the use of biodiesel from waste products such as used cooking oil or tallow but comments that the risk of indirect emissions increases at higher levels of use and may already be material. The report is also critical of the cost of biofuels as a means of reducing emissions and says that they are not a cost-effective means to reduce emissions from road transport.
A T&E, EEB, BirdLife Europe and IISD report says that total annual public support for biofuels production in Europe is around €10 billion.T&E says the finding confirms that most biofuels on the market today are not only bad for the environment but do not help Europe’s economy either.
T&E’s biofuels officer Nusa Urbancic said: ‘We already know the EU’s biofuels policy does not help the climate, and this study demonstrates that it doesn’t help our economy either. EU countries fighting to make the best use of decreasing amounts of money have been giving the biofuels industry the equivalent of a Cyprus bailout every year!’
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry across the EU, said (in response to the Chatham House report) that biofuels have many positives. Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB (reported by the BBC) said: "Blaming biofuels for all the troubles in the world is a bit too exaggerated.
"It has brought lots of benefits. It has improved the security of our diesel; it has reduced EU dependency on animal feed imports, thanks to the rapeseed we grow for biodiesel. If there was no biodiesel farmers would just make their land idle - no food, no feed!"
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