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Charity attacks rush for biofuels
Roger Harrabin, BBC
A furious attack on the drive to grow more biofuels has been launched by a charity supporting poor farmers in developing countries. The charity – called Grain – says their research shows the rush for biofuels is causing much more environmental and social damage than previously realised.
Biofuels from crops are being heavily promoted by the US and Europe as a welcome solution to climate change. In theory their emissions are much lower than from fossil fuels.
But the report from the charity Grain amplifies recent warnings from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that some biofuels produce hardly any carbon savings at all. The UN says basic food prices for poor countries are being pushed up by competition for land from biofuels.
The Grain report says its research shows show that governments and biofuels firms in developing countries are collaborating to push hundreds of thousands of indigenous people and peasant communities off their land.
Grain says: “The numbers involved are mind-boggling. The Indian government is talking of planting 14 million hectares of land with jatropha.
“The Inter-American Development Bank says that Brazil has 120 million hectares that could be cultivated with agrofuel crops; and an agrofuel lobby is speaking of 379 million hectares being available in 15 African countries. We are talking about expropriation on an unprecedented scale.”
It points out that one of the main causes of global warming is agro-industrial farming itself, thanks mainly the use of chemical fertilisers which introduce nitrous oxide into the air.
(29 June 2007)
Groups unite to halt EU biofuels rush
EurActiv
More than 30 groups from around the world have come together to demand a moratorium on the EU’s move towards sourcing biofuels from large-scale monocultures.
In March 2007, EU leaders committed to a 10% share of biofuels in transport by 2020. Even US plane manufacturer Boeing plans to fly aircraft on a 50% biofuel blend. However, concerns have arisen over the environmental impact of bio-fuel production methods.
Presenting their case at the European Parliament on 26 and 27 June, the signatories warn that producing biofuel for EU markets will accelerate climate change, destroy biodiversity, and uproot local communities.
“Far from reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, Europe’s biofuel policy threatens to accelerate global warming by destroying tropical and sub-tropical forests and peatlands, which are amongst the world’s most important carbon sinks,” says Almuth Ernsting, of Biofuelwatch.
Moreover, the group do not believe that the certification projects currently being drafted by the EU will be able to prevent such damage.
(28 June 2007)
Attack on the use of biofuels (Audio)
BBC
Biofuels are said to be one answer to global warming but some are not happy with turning crops into fuel.
Helena Paul of Econexus and ex Shell chairman Lord Oxburgh debate their use.
(June 2007)
Short discussion, more interesting than usual.
Energy Secretary Bodman announces three new labs, federal funding for biofuels research (Video and transcript)
E&E TV
As part of President Bush’s 20-in-10 initiative, the Department of Energy recently announced it will invest $375 million in three new bioenergy research laboratories.
During today’s E&ETV Event Coverage, Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman discusses the new project and explains how it will help to accelerate research for cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.
Joining Secretary Bodman are the research centers’ directors, Martin Keller, Timothy Donahue, and Jay Keasling.
(28 June 2007)
