Reports call for changes in global biofuel policies
Mon 10 September 2007
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A study from the OECD is reported to say that the current push to expand biofuels is disrupting markets without generating significant environmental benefits. Meanwhile, a report by the WorldWatch Institute on the same subject says that a balance must be struck between large and small scale biofuel production. The Institute also says that biofuels could benefit some of the World's rural poor by pushing up agricultural prices.
The OECD study, as reported by the Financial Times, says biofuels would cut energy-related emissions by 3 per cent at most. This benefit would come at a huge cost which would swiftly make them unpopular among taxpayers.
The study estimates the US alone spends $7bn (€5bn) a year helping make ethanol, with each tonne of carbon dioxide avoided costing more than $500. In the EU, it can be almost 10 times that.
It says biofuels could lead to some damage to the environment: “As long as environmental values are not adequately priced in the market, there will be powerful incentives to replace natural eco-systems such as forests, wetlands and pasture with dedicated bio-energy crops.”
The report recommends governments phase out biofuel subsidies, using “technology-neutral” carbon taxes instead to allow the market to find the most efficient ways of reducing greenhouse gases.
A report by the WorldWatch Institute also raised doubts about biofuels. According to a report in ENDS, it says that a massive increase in the production and use of biofuels could speed deforestation and biodiversity loss, thus accelerating climate change.
"The more high-tech and large-scale biofuel industries become, the greater the policy effort required to fulfil the social and environmental aims," says the Institute in a new book entitled "Biofuels for transport". Governments should aim to promote a mixture of large- and small-scale production, its authors argue, and that this will require the development of separate policies and technologies.
The book's authors say the development of national and international sustainability certification is essential to protect ecosystems and maintain public trust in biofuels. They also stress that biofuels will not solve the world's transport energy challenges alone, and should be developed "within the context of a transition to a more efficient, less polluting and more diversified global transport sector".
Following the leak of the OECD report, Friends of the Earth called on the EU to scrap its ten per cent biofuels target for transport.
Friends of the Earth Biofuels Campaigner, Ed Matthew said: "Rushing down the biofuels route will be a huge mistake. The OECD is the latest respected organisation to warn about the social and environmental risks associated with this technology. The EU must abandon its ten per cent biofuels target or risk further destruction and poverty in developing countries. We must cut transport emissions by forcing manufacturers to develop far more fuel-efficient vehicles, abandoning airport expansion, and making it cheaper and easier for people to use public transport, rather than falsely promoting biofuels as a pain-free solution to global warming."
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