Homepage
Sitemap
Larger
Smaller
Login
Registration
Help
Terms of use
Legislation on the production of biofules
14.01.2008, 15:06
In
Mar
ch last year, EU
leaders agreed that 10 percent of transport fuels should come from biofuels by
2020, a goal the commission is now turning into concrete legislation.
The European commission is due on 23 January to publish legislation on the production of biofuels, aimed at promoting the use of these alternatives to oil.
But, The Commission is re-thinking draft rules on reaching the
EU's target to boost biofuels amid strong criticism by green campaign groups and
development NGOs that the goal could lead to environmental damage and social
dislocation.
Last Friday, a group of 17 NGOs - including Oxfam and Friends of the Earth -
sent a letter to EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs, asking him to
introduce much tougher standards for biofuel production or give up mandatory
transport biofuel targets altogether.
They argued that the existing draft legislation does not provide protection for
important ecosystems, such as savannas or permanent grasslands "that may
be threatened by expanding agriculture to meet the EU's biofuel target."
"Destruction of these carbon sinks would lead to large emissions of carbon
into the atmosphere, thereby reducing or neutralising the benefits from growing
biofuels. Neither does the draft text provide any safeguards to protect water
and soil resources," they said in a statement.
They also noted that "large scale biofuel production can cause negative
indirect or knock-on impacts such as increasing food and feed prices and
increasing water scarcity which would lead to negative impacts on the world's
poor," in line with earlier studies by a number of experts on the issue.
Biofuels are made of the same products as fossil fuels - plants, trees and
animal waste - except they can be produced straight from the product unlike
fossil fuels that have been processed over millions of years.
Agricultural products grown for making biofuel include corn, soybeans, rapeseed
and others.
In reaction, EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas suggested the pending
guidelines should be altered, saying it would be better to miss the biofuels
target than to hurt the poor or damage the environment.
"We have seen that the environmental problems caused by biofuels and also
the social problems are bigger than we thought they were. So we have to move
very carefully," Mr Dimas told the BBC.
"We have to have criteria for sustainability, including social and
environmental issues, because there are some benefits from biofuels," he
added.
Last September, the EU's plan to boost the use of biofuels as part of wider
plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions received a serious blow from the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), grouping the
world's 30 most developed countries.
The Paris-based body argues that state subsidies for biofuels could lead to
food price hikes and damage to forests and natural habitats while its impact in
terms of the fight against climate change may only be limited.
Source: EUobserver.com