The current biofuels policies in the UK and Europe are driving habitat destruction in places such as Kenya and are perversely contributing to the emissions of greenhouse gases and thus making climate change worse.
This much we know – and we’ve been following the stories of the Tana River Delta and the Dakatcha woodlands in Kenya though these posts – here, for example.
Doubts are growing both in Government here in the UK and within the European Commission – but the current regime, which is little more than big green con – is set to continue.
A European Commission Report on Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) admits that the environmental credentials of biofuels – a major plank in the UK government’s renewable energy push – are not clear and recommended a further six months of studies.
Six months of further delay that could be put towards fixing these perverse and damaging policies.
If you want to read more about ILUC – here’s an earlier post.
The latest EC report looks at the impact of Indirect Land Use Change as a result of biofuel plantations. But after a year of study, instead of setting promised sustainability criteria, the Commission has instead called for further scientific investigation. Leaving fundamental issues like ILUC unresolved raises doubts about the wisdom of the EU’s 10 per cent target for renewable transport fuel, and the UK’s intention to meet it entirely through biofuels.
A study out earlier this year concluded that biofuels could cause more emissions than the fossil fuels they replace (see editors note 4). The study, backed by the RSPB and other environmental groups, found that the UK’s drive for biofuels could destroy an extra 1.6 million hectares of wildlife habitat – bigger than the size of Northern Ireland – by 2020. And it would create carbon emissions equivalent to putting nearly six million extra cars on the roads.
The European Commission’s Report on Indirect Land Use Change admits that the environmental credentials of biofuels – a major plank in the UK government’s renewable energy push – are not clear and recommended a further six months of studies.
Transport biofuel made from crops such as jatropha and sugar cane currently make up around 3 per cent of the petrol and diesel in UK pumps. However the UK Government is planning to increase this to 10 per cent by 2020 to meet an EU target for renewable fuels.
Policy in Europe is leading us in the wrong direction – where we risk replacing one damaging fuel (oil) with another (biofuel) rather than leading a drive towards smarter cars that require less fuel or run on electricity.
Follow me on twitter.