New NGO report says biofuels impacts will be much worse due to indirect land-use effects
Sun 07 November 2010
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A new analysis by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) for a group of leading environmental NGOs says that the increasing demand for biofuels in the UK and elsewhere will destroy more natural habitat and produce more CO2 emissions than previously estimated.
The report, entitled: "Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels and Bioliquids in the EU – An Analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans" was commissioned by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the RSPB and Action Aid.
FoE's press release to announce the report says that to meet its renewable energy target for transport, the UK has chosen to implement the highest increase in the use of biofuels of any EU country - making it the biggest importer of biofuels in Europe.
The report says that factors not currently accounted for in biofuel policies mean that the UK's drive for biofuel could destroy an extra 1.6 million hectares of wildlife habitat - bigger than the size of Northern Ireland - by 2020. The policies, the report says, could add up to 13 mega tonnes of additional carbon dioxide emissions per year - equivalent to putting nearly six million extra cars on the roads.
The report says that in addition to converting vast areas of rainforest and grassland into monoculture plantations, making space for biofuel production will force other farming activity in producer countries deeper into forests. This displacement of farming activity, they say, will cause extra deforestation, loss of wildlife habitats, and carbon dioxide emissions - as well as increasing food prices.
The joint NGOs are calling on the Government and the EU to stop relying on biofuels to meet renewable energy targets for transport, and to make smarter cars that use less fuel or run on green electricity. In the meantime the charities want indirect land use change 'factors' brought into new legislation that account for the full scale of the impact of biofuels on habitats, climate change and food security.
The IEEP report follows closely on a report by CE Delft which sought to produce a methodology for evaluating the indirect land-use (iLUC) effects of biofuels. The report recommended restricting biofuels production to cultivation on degraded land and from waste streams.
In a recent response to an EU consultation on the indirect effects of biofuels the LowCVP said that the consensus view of its members is that despite the uncertainties and limitations of the evidence-base most members accept that iLUC effects are real, and that emissions can be significant for some biofuel feedstocks.
The LowCVP response said that the development of a reliable well-evidenced solution is supported and uncertainty should be managed and not be used as an excuse for inaction. Significant delays, or ineffective interventions, will continue to erode public confidence in biofuels increasing the uncertainty in markets and undermining the investment needed to ensure Renewable Energy Directive and Fuel Quality Directive targets are delivered.
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