NGO report challenges carbon impact of African woodland clearance to grow Jatropha
Tue 22 March 2011
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Using biofuels sourced from some Kenyan jatropha plantations will result in significantly greater carbon emissions of fossil fuels according to an RSPB/ActionAid/Nature Kenya report. However, a senior BP Executive has told a London Conference that biofuels is ‘the only game in town’ when it comes to decarbonising the transport sector. He said that legislators and consumers should focus on distinguishing well-produced biofuels rather than ruling out production altogether.
The NGOs' report focuses on the Dakatcha Woodlands in Kenya which are set to make way for jatropha plantations. The report says that the African biofuels grown here will be destined for Europe and result in up to six times the carbon emissions of fossil fuels.
Dr Helen Byron, RSPB’s Kenya expert, said: “The Dakatcha Woodlands are a haven for wildlife and the threat they face is a direct result of European demand for biofuels. No government has done a proper assessment of biofuels imported from overseas to see if they will, in fact, reduce our carbon emissions – so we decided to do it for them”.
Jatropha has been widely planted across Asia in countries. Indonesia, for example, aimed to have 1.5 million hectares of land under jatropha crops by last year, while India planned 1.18 million hectares, though falling oil prices and growing questions about its sustainability saw those targets scaled back.
Olivier Mace, head of strategy, regulatory affairs and communications at BP Biofuels, told delegates at a London Conference that while alternative low-carbon technologies could play some role in cutting vehicle emissions, fuel from energy crops would be at the forefront of efforts to cut transport-related emissions over the next two decades.
Mace said he expected growing demand in India and China would by 2030 push the biofuel share of all road transport fuel well above the 12 per cent mark BP has previously predicted.
"There is no other alternative that I can really subscribe to in terms of decarbonising road transport," he said. "To get into 10 to 20 per cent of consumption, we believe there is only one game in town today and that is biofuels."
Mace agrees that the sector still has to address questions over sustainability and acknowledged biofuels had become "embattled in controversy, especially here in Europe. " He added: "I am a firm believer of biofuels done well and a stern condemner of biofuels done badly," he said.
The UK Government has recently announced consultations on changes to the Renewable Energy and Fuel Quality Directives (RED and FQD) which will focus, amongst other aspects, on the impacts of indirect land-use change (ILUC) on biofuels’ life-cycle carbon impacts. (See related story - link)
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