'Green' policies are wrecking environment

“The scale of the damage that European countries will cause with their biofuels plans is now clear – forests and nature will be destroyed on a shocking scale to fuel our cars. The resulting release of climate-damaging greenhouse gases will make biofuels a worse polluter than fossil fuels. The EU needs to urgently review the sustainability of using biofuels and ensure their use does not lead to more climate change or environmental destruction.” -Adrian Bebb, Friends of the Earth Europe

Green gone wrong, greens supported biofuels but this was manipulated into cash crop/rainforest destruction....however crappy Ch 4 programmes are not going to focus on real problems but instead act as cheer leaders for corporations.

Everything in the UK is wrong at present, inequality, environmental destruction and economic catastrophe are not things the present government seeks to avoid but policies they embrace.

The biofuel drive is mostly occuring, though, because of EU pressure. The German Greens have been big advocates of biofuels in the past, glad to see this is changing.

New research warns of massive increase in carbon emissions and land conversion
Plans to increase the use of biofuels in Europe over the next ten years will require up to 69 000 square kilometres of new land worldwide and make climate change worse, a new study has revealed.[1].

The report finds that an area over twice the size of Belgium will need to be converted into fields and plantations – putting forests, natural ecosystems and poor communities in danger, if European countries do not change their plans for getting petrol and diesel from food crops by 2020.

The new research analyses for the first time biofuel use planned by the EU’s member states in their renewable energy plans [2], concluding that:

Europe is set to increase significantly biofuel use by 2020 when biofuels will provide 9.5% of transport fuel – more than 90% of which will come from food crops.

When indirect land use change is taken into account, biofuels will emit an extra 27 to 56 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year the equivalent to an extra 12 to 26 million cars on Europe’s roads by 2020.

Unless EU policy changes, the extra biofuels that Europe will use over the next decade will be on average 81 to 167% worse for the climate than fossil fuels.

MORE HERE