Biofuels - a big green con?

1 May 2007

The adverts, supported by campaign partner enoughsenough.org, call on the Government to reconsider it's approach to biofuels.

Biofuels are touted as being 'green' fuels, but the Government's dash for biofuels could:

• Destroy forests and valuable habitats.
• Produce more greenhouse gases than they save.
• Threaten the food supply and livelihoods of some of the worlds most vulnerable people.

Biofuels can be used in place of petrol and diesel. But they can only play a limited role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Government's proposal

The Government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) could see businesses producing biofuels by destroying rainforests and wetlands.

This would threaten endangered habitats and species.

It would also release far more carbon into the atmosphere than could ever hope to be saved by replacing fossil fuels.

Standing together

Greenpeace, RSPB, WWF and Friends of the Earth are all demanding that the RTFO is strengthened so that it truly benefits the environment.

The Government's proposals are so weak that they are in real danger of increasing global warming emissions, not reducing them. The word is incompetent.

Ed Matthew, Senior Campaigner at Friends of the Earth

The risks are so great that biofuels should be the last option to reduce transport emissions, not the first.

Further reading

Agrofuels: Fuelling or Fooling Europe?
(PDF† 174K) October 2007
Friends of the Earth Europe's position on agrofuels/ biofuels.

'Green fuels' could be bad for the environment
April 2007
Press release on biofuels jointly issued by Greenpeace, RSPB, WWF and Friends of the Earth.

The use of palm oil for biofuel and as biomass for energy
(PDF† 67K) August 2006
Friends of the Earth's position on the use of palm oil for biofuel and as biomass for energy.