Biofuel crops 'will harm the planet'

Well everyone from Deepak at Biofuel watch, to Cllr Andrew Boswell to that pensioner in the track suit in Havana have got stuck in...I know I have annoyed at least one sailor and several police people on this...but the tide is turning...palm oil from rainforests could be out...at least EU and UK may I repeat may be changing their minds

Biofuel crops 'will harm the planet'


By Charles Clover, Environment Editor

Last Updated: 2:01pm GMT 20/01/2008



Plans to promote “green” petrol and diesel made from plant crops will do the planet more harm than good and should be scrapped, a committee of MPs has demanded.

Ministers and the EU were accused of being “reckless” in subsidising fuels made from plants in the absence of international agreements to prevent rising the accelerated destruction of the tropical forests.

The Environmental Audit select committee warned that growing conventional crops, such as wheat and sugar beet, in Britain to make fuel would cause a rise in the price of food and make it harder to meet targets on water quality and to meet targets on the conservation of birds, plants and animals.

MPs said an immediate moratorium should be imposed on “expensive and inefficient” subsidies directed at the present generation of “green” fuels – whether made from maize, rape, wheat, sugar cane or palm oil.

Instead policies should be redirected at the growing of “biomass” – wood and other crops that can be grown on non-crop land and used to generate heat – and the development of “second-generation” biofuels from waste, which required far less fossil fuel to grow and did not accelerate the destruction of the world's forests, or “carbon sinks.”

This would involve delaying support for green fuels for up to a decade.

The MPs report, “Are Biofuels Sustainable?”, also called for policies to be re-directed towards international mechanisms to enable the creation of new carbon “sinks” by protecting more tropical forest that would otherwise release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

From April, petrol and diesel sold in Britain must have 2.5 per cent biofuel, derived from such crops as rape seed and sugar beet as well as animal products such as tallow. This proportion will rise to 5 per cent in two years' time. The EU wants to increase this to 10 per cent by 2020.

The committee's criticisms follow the admission last week by the European Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, that the EU's decision to push ahead with biofuels had already led to an increase in the destruction of rainforests and a rise in food prices.

He indicated that the EU's policy, due to be launched on Wednesday, might have to be delayed until it was possible to certify “sustainable” biofuels.

A report by the Royal Society last week warned that “green” fuels were capable of doing more damage to the atmosphere than fossil fuels by encouraging the accelerated destruction of tropical forests, which lock up billions of tons of carbon, for palm oil. MPs say the EU's plan for the certification of sustainable biofuels “is not good enough.”

Tim Yeo, the Tory MP who chairs the committee, said: “On the basis of current biofuel technology, more greenhouse gas cuts could be achieved at lower cost and risk by implementing a range of other policies. ”Advanced second generation biofuels may have an important role in the future, but these technologies are some years away.

The Government should support their development by creating a stable investment climate out to 2020.”

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers Union, said biofuels were “the only renewable alternative” for replacing fossil fuels in transport and tackling the quarter of British carbon emissions it was responsible for.

"Those savings can and should be improved. But for the committee to conclude that, because the savings are small, they are not worth having at all, is illogical and ill-informed.”

Jeremy Tomkinson, chief executive of the National Non-Food Crops Centre, said: “The Government is setting up world-leading policies to ensure that these benefits will be obtained. I would urge the Government to continue on this path.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport insisted it was “determined to support only those biofuels which deliver genuine environmental benefits”.

A spokeswoman said: “The committee's report says that biofuels can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road transport, but that there are risks associated with them.

The Government agrees. ”We have made clear that we will not support any increase in current biofuel targets until we are convinced that the biofuels can be delivered sustainably.”